Welcome lads and lasses to the monthly bending tournament report! Unfortunately, this time around, you’ve all been deprived of QuietDove’s dulcet tones (delivered exclusively through text on a screen, somehow) and have been left with me, little ole KevinY3. The format's a little different this time around because of that.
This month’s tournament saw a cavalcade of fighters taking part, with each and every single one of them proving themselves in the ring. We’ve seen an astronomical rise in the standards of the participants in these tournaments as of late. Who knows what kind of incredible battles have yet to be fought, what tales of struggle and of triumph have yet to be transcribed? The possibilities are endless and you, my friend, have the opportunity to be a part of history. Just go to shop.avatarmc.com and donate all of your life savings to... I kid, of course. Now, that’s enough purple prose from me—onto the section that we all care about, the match summaries!
The VOD can be viewed by clicking here!
Water: Best_Minority, 1card2, ShadowKing1255, Danger5002, jackhammerjack, StalkerRazor
Fire: AwesomeSpy546, Seppizza, Fire_LordAzula, FakeFires
Earth: Cafeman, Indomitis (Gentechian), jakkke, LAUR3NS_KLAV3R
Air: Momadt, dormagedonoff, EshelD, ThomasCraft00, CaesarSW4R, 17jlede, GamerAlex546, wuss_poppin__b, BananaVirus
Nonbending: Log_as, Avidius_Latte, KevinY3
Match 1: Best_Minority vs. AwesomeSpy546
AwesomeSpy started the match with a single whiffed fireball. And for the rest, we had a farcical chase between him and Best Minority, with Best running after his opponent whose second, and only other, action during that match was to set himself on fire. Best wins, obviously.
Match 2: Momadt vs. dormagedonoff
Dormag went in hot, opting to indulge in close-quarters-combat while keeping light on their feet. As the match progressed, we saw both fighters trading blows, moving through one another in an intricate sort of dance, just waiting for one or the other to make a mistake. Ultimately, it was dormag's aggression that was their downfall, as Momadt adapted to their attacks and successfully executed a series of counters and long range snipes, forcing their opponent to concede. And by concede, I mean die.
Match 3: Seppizza vs. EshelD
Both fighters tried to stay distant, taking advantage of their longest range moves all while keeping a distance. EshelD tried to close in, using various melee range moves to try to get a read on his opponent, but the firebending fighter remained too mobile and created too many avenues of attack. For the longest time he looked invincible, delivering devastating blow after devastating blow while taking no hits in return. He kept up a constant barrage against Eshel, eventually burning him to a crisp. A well deserved victory for Seppizza!
Match 4: Log_as vs. 1card2
Log went in hard and fast, using a mix of chiblock, falcon strike and throwing knife to deliver an unavoidable wall of aggression. Card responded by trying to stay in their element, keeping to the water pools in order to heal and fire off their most powerful moves. The gods of movement speed were not on Card's side, however, and Log found himself easily evading water's slow and ponderous attacks while easily punishing each and every one of their opponent's moves. Ultimately, Card went down while Log moved on with a victory to their name.
Match 5: danger5002 vs. ShadowKing1255
Hopes were high this tournament to see ShadowKing take the whole thing, as the spunky waterbender had made a name for himself contending with the roughest and the readiest in the FNC arena, scoring an impressive track record of victories. Both waterbenders immediately went in close trading blow for blow. Danger executed on a seemingly perfect High Tide, but ShadowKing managed to escape from it in the nick of time. In a brilliant act of quick thinking, Shadow converted Danger's own High Tide into ice, suffocating the hapless waterbender within his own ultimate. Danger went down in thirty seconds flat, making this the fastest match in the entire tournament!
Match 6: 17jlede vs. GamerAlex546
Both combatants seemed to enjoy taking it slow and steady, with each closing in on their opponent to use a series of close range, highly repeatable moves. This war of attrition quickly became untenable for both parties, leading to them having to adapt. Jlede took to the skies, using gusts and jumps to keep out of their enemy's reach while Alex started using a more diverse portfolio of moves, greatly extending his range and therefore his capacity for hitting his opponent where and when it hurt most. This battle was one whose result was determined by whoever made the most mistakes and unfortunately, in the end, jlede was the one who went down.
Match 7: CaesarSW4R vs. CafeMan
Earth has always been weak against air. With few fast-traveling moves to hit their mobile opponents and little mobility of their own with which to dodge the airbender's windy fare, earth is consistently the butt of the joke in every earth vs. air matchup. However, when this battle began, it seemed as if CafeMan immediately had his opponent on the ropes, successfully landing a series of attacks all while remaining close to his opponent where their strongest moves couldn't possibly penetrate CafeMan's armour. Amazingly, in a total reversal of roles, this time around it was the earthbender who stayed on the move and who couldn't be hit. However, Caesar made an incredible comeback, pinning his opponent with a series of close-ranged attacks and a full ultimate, leaving CafeMan with practically no health. From there it was all downhill for the coffee bender, as Caesar broke down his defenses and brought him to his knees.
Match 8: jakkke vs. Fire_LordAzula
Both fighters were insanely aggressive, going in for absurdly risky plays all while refusing to give their opponents an inch of ground or space to breathe. It was like watching two trains colliding with one another headfirst, with both parties belligerently refusing to let up for even a second. Halfway through the match, however, jakkke began to run out of steam, whiffing many of their shots and taking many more in return. Azula capitalized on this weakness, making good use of fire's new move—Burnout—to deliver some incredibly painful attacks. Jakkke's defeat became an inevitability from there, and Azula found themselves moving on into the rest of the tournament. It seemed at this point that fire had truly stepped back into the limelight after a series of disappointing appearances in previous tournaments.
Match 9: ThomasCraft00 vs. Avidius_Latte
As expected of a duel between an airbender and nonbender, this round was a tight and mobile affair, with each fighter having to maintain an intricate grasp of both their own position and their opponent's. Avid delivered a series of beautifully well-placed grenades, knives and blowdarts, winning microvictory after microvictory, while Thomas seemed to be on the back foot the whole round, desperately casting defensive moves in an attempt to just stay alive and to keep his lethal opponent away. Thomas went down and Avidius—a crowd favourite expected by many to take the whole tournament—moved on to fight her next opponent.
LAUR3NS_KLAV3R and Hamster_Thing were supposed to fight in match ten, but the latter failed to show up. In the words of our immortal god-king CheeseSandwich, "sucks to suck."
Match 10: Best_Minority vs. jackhammerjack
Hopes were high that the recent changes to water would prevent this match from dragging out for too long. As soon as the proverbial gun was fired, both fighters closed in on one another, each convinced that they could out-damage the other. However, in a cruel twist of fate, Jack found himself out of the water and stranded within Best_Minority's range of attack, who completely obliterated his opponent with a combination of ice-blizzard and splash, winning this round in spectacularly rapid fashion. An astounding performance from Best!
Match 11: Indomitis vs. LAUR3NS_KLAV3R
Earth vs. Earth, a matchup as old as… well, as old as earth vs. earth. There were the usual trapplings: hastily cast earth armours, walls created in a desperate attempt to avoid damage and an overuse of earth blast and shackle to the neglect of other moves like pebble toss and earth coin. This match was slow and steady, full of grace as if it were a waltz. Lauren and Indomitis danced all around the arena, but eventually, Indomitis stepped on their date's shoes, and Lauren was the one who ended up stumbling. Indomitis won this dance.
Match 12: Momadt vs. Seppizza
This match felt like a fight between Zuko and Aang, with our airbender—Momadt—trying to stay evasive and near his opponent, taking advantage of his ability to dodge and weave around his opponent. Meanwhile, Seppizza kept up a constant stream of attacks, using all of the moves available to them to crush their opponent in a timely fashion. Momadt was forced to surrender and Seppizza celebrated their victory, hardly having broken a sweat.
Match 13: Bananavirus vs. Log_as
It was immediately apparent when this fight began who was destined to win. Log managed to land a devastatingly powerful ultimate on their enemy, and from there, the cards simply stacked up in their favour. Their knives consistently outranged Bananavirus' spears, their falcon strikes perfectly countered Banana's air shocks and their grenades kept his opponent from ever staying on the ground to recuperate or eat. This match felt immensely unfair, and in spite of an admirable performance from Banana—as they managed to pin Log with a wind slam in the middle of the match—this match had a foregone conclusion. Log moved on.
Match 14: ShadowKing1255 vs. FakeFires
If there was any doubt in the crowd's minds that Shadow wasn't one of, if not the best waterbender to have ever graced the arena floor, there was none after this match. He managed to outpace, outgun and outwit his adversary the whole time that he was fighting, handily dodging every single one of his enemy's blows while opening numerous avenues of attack with which to bring the firebender crashing to the ground. In under a minute, ShadowKing was the only living thing left in the arena, having taken just one single hit throughout the entire fight.
Match 15: wuss_poppin__b vs. GamerAlex546
Punchy, violent, destructive, beautiful. All of these words describe how this fight went, with Wuss and Alex trading ultimates, trading spears, trading every sort of blow imaginable as each of them desperately attempted to pull victory from the jaws of a stalemate. No quarter was given, no move misplaced. Every second of this round was do-or-die, win it all or lose everything. Nobody, least of all the competitors, knew who exactly was winning through the match, but everyone knew that they were witnessing something special: a duel between two people who were utterly comfortable with their elements and confident in victory. Ultimately, Wuss pulled out a surprise victory, dispatching their opponent dispassionately and clinically.
Match 16: CasesarSW4R vs. Fire_LordAzula
Azula played an interesting game during this battle, choosing to stay on the run for the most part only to unexpectedly turn around now and then to ensnare their opponent in a lethal cage of offense. They started the match out by pinning Caesar with a barrage of flame shots, followed by an absolutely killer solar burst, setting the airbender alight. From there, it was simply a matter of keeping up their momentum. However, in a surprise twist, Caesar managed to get the best of them, having quietly dealt enough damage to kill his opponent while everyone was distracted by Azula's incredibly flashy performance.
Match 17: Avidius_Latte vs. StalkerRazor
Water has always been vulnerable to nonbending with its shamefully low range and incredibly slow moving projectiles. Stalker was fighting an uphill battle from the get-go, having to simultaneously stay close enough to his opponent to deal some genuine damage while also staying far away enough that he wasn't vulnerable to Avid's devastatingly powerful falcon strikes, chiblocks and impact grenades. In the end, the challenge proved to be too much for the young waterbender. Avid moved on with another impressive victory under her belt.
Match 18: KevinY3 vs. Indomitis
Indomitis and KevinY3 played a game of cat and mouse in this one, with Indomitis trying to stay at a distance while KevinY3 constantly tried to close the distance between them. That wasn't an especially smart move on my part, mind you, because not only do nonbenders have only one melee range move that does any damage but also because of a move known as earth cage... well, it exists, and it is disgustingly good at suffocating inept nonbenders. After a short episode during which Indomitis and I chased one another around a wall, I went down, leaving Indomitis to carry on into their next fight.
Match 19: Best_Minority vs. Seppizza
Two aggressive, mobile and especially skilled fighters take to the ring. It's a duel for the ages from thereon after, with flame shots bouncing off ice cages and water blasts hitting nothing but air. Seppizza's rains of fire, in spite of being his best assets in previous rounds, failed to see much success in this one due to Best_Minority consistently staying in the water. Ultimately, it was Seppizza's inability to adapt to his opponent that brought the proverbial Icarus crashing into the equally proverbial sea. Best_Minority moved on, his confidence in himself growing.
Match 20: ShadowKing1255 vs. Log_as
Shadow has made a name for himself at this point bringing down all of his opponents in sixty seconds or less. This was absolutely no exception. Log struggled to find a moment of respite as his opponent clung to his back, repositioning on a dime to strike hard and to strike fast, completely outclassing the nonbender's damage-dealing abilities with water's incredibly powerful, incredibly repeatable attacks. Log couldn't keep up and ShadowKing, once again, seized an almost inconceivably fast victory.
Match 21: CaesarSW4R vs. wuss_poppin__b
Mirror matches between elements tend to be a visually confusing and boring mess with nobody capable of telling who's winning or losing. This round was not that. It was slow, it was long, it was never scarce of maneuvers to analyze and moments to comment on. Both fighters made use of their entire arsenals, desperately fighting against all odds to win. Spears, shocks, slams, shields—every single nameable move and every single possible combination of strategies and tactics—were deployed on the field. It was an insanely close match, and ultimately, Wuss came out on top, pulling through with just a sliver of health. It wasn't an easy victory for anyone, least of all the audience who were left biting their nails from the word go.
Match 22: Avidius_Latte vs. Indomitis
A rematch of sorts for Indomitis, as his last fight had also been against a nonbender. To Avidius, however, it was a chance to make a name for herself defeating the legendary Gentechian (who, I will admit, I didn't realise changed his name to Indomitis until he'd already beaten me). It was a close quarters affair for the most part, with Indomitis constantly leaping close to his enemy in order to blast her with pebbles and earth blasts, only for Avid to run away and keep him at bay with a double-whammy of knives and blowdarts. Grenades were her best friend during this fight, as she was able to constantly overcome Indomitis' earth walls by slinging them over the top. Ultimately, Indomitis expired and Avid earned victory in handy fashion.
Match 23: Best_Minority vs. ShadowKing1255
Two master waterbenders and—oh, wait—ShadowKing's already won. Seriously, what's up with this guy? He hasn't broken a sweat throughout the entire tournament!
Match 24: wuss_poppinb vs. Avidius_Latte
Wuss was the underdog in this particular fight. Avid had managed to show that she was one of the strongest contenders for champion throughout the competition, completely annihilating each and every schmuck who passed into her crosshairs throughout the entire tournament. Wuss had to evade her battery of knives, stay out of reach of her catastrophically powerful grenades and avoid being caught in a falcon strike which, if landed, would end the fight in an instant. Ultimately, that's just what happened. Avid landed a falcon strike, and from there, it was all over for Wuss. He couldn't make heads or tails of the situation and was left trying to recover for the rest of the round until finally, inevitably, he went down. A commendable performance from both fighters.
Match 25: Best_Minority vs. wuss_poppin__b
A match to separate the slightly moldy wheat from the pretty-looking chaff. The victor here would take third place—perhaps not the greatest honour attainable for someone in the arena but still a respectable position to be in. Of course, neither Best nor Wuss were willing to be thrown into obscurity, and so both gave this match their all. Water met air in this maelstrom of carnage. Though both fighters may have been friends outside of the ring, when so much was on the line there was no mercy between them, not an ounce of respect nor fondness. Wuss played the long con, staying far away in order to cast spears at his opponent like David pitching rocks at Goliath. Best kept close and within the water, trying to ensnare his opponent and drag him to a watery grave. Ultimately, Best proved to be the better of the two in their war of attrition and pulled out a solid win—more than earning his spot on the podium.
Match 26: Avidius_Latte vs. ShadowKing1255
Two legends enter the ring, each fabled to be a victor in their own right. Whoever won here would be immortalised in the annals of AvatarMC history, destined to be vaunted forever after as a master of combat, as an exemplar of what heights dedication, creed and skill could elevate a person to. There would be no shame in losing, for the status of 2nd place would still place the holder above the scores of forgotten fighters that they'd bested to reach that position.
This was Avid’s chance to earn eternal respect, and it was ShadowKing’s opportunity to live up to the legend! When the match began Avidius kept up the usual strategy, deploying knives and grenades and blowdarts and projectiles galore, never seeming to relent nor get pinned. She was too evasive, too mobile for ShadowKing to trap and defeat, and so he found himself having to play against his own strengths, maintaining his distance and whittling down his opponent's health. Yet in spite of this, in spite of every single advantage given to Avidius by her element, by her skill and by waterbending's inherent flaws, she still couldn't defeat ShadowKing, that legend who'd defeated all of his opponents in a minute or less.
ShadowKing beat Avid like he did all the rest, and with great aplomb, stood atop his opponent's cadavers, looked out over his domain and found his adversaries wanting. Avid, though she may have been the only opponent to have lasted more than a minute against ShadowKing, couldn’t end the waterbender’s streak of wins. A glorious sendoff to an equally glorious tournament.
The bracket for this tournament can be found by clicking here
Even though I'm not writing this report, I'm still gatecrashing to hand out the coveted Dove Awards!
Best Fighter - There is only one winner here, and that is the absolutely dominant.
ShadowKing1255. They blew away the competition, drawing comparisons to their master—the double champion—Mystef/Yagura. We can't forget that Shadow was actually beaten in the July final by Yagura, so this has been a perfect way to come back. Honourable mentions go to Avidius_Latte and to Sepizza, who came with the recommendation of Vince.
Best Fight - We have a few contenders this month, with Indomitis' fights against KevinY3 and Avidius_Latte being highlights. The winner though, is Seppizza vs Best_Minority. An excellent display of bending from two very talented fighters.
The 'That Was an Interesting Use of a Lesser Seen Bending Move' Award - That, catchily named, award goes to ShadowKing1255 for the use of Phase Change on High Tide. Freezing the High Tide move was an inspired tactic from Shadow. It trapped danger5002 and caused them to suffocate, giving ShadowKing an easy victory.
The 'Giving BarelyDecisive a Run for Her Money' Award - This special award goes to the person who was only able to last 30 seconds in the arena. In fact, Decisive will be delighted to hear that her record has now been broken, as danger5002 fell in just 25 seconds during their fight with ShadowKing1255!
Funniest Moment - This month, the award is sponsored by Benny Hill. And that is appropriate, as the funniest moment this time was the short chase between KevinY3 and Indomitis, the latter chasing Kevin around an earth wall, drawing comparisons to the comedian.
Huge thanks to FireLordZuko and vincebobogunoosh for commentating this month's bending tournament, and thanks to CheeseSandwich, ShootItzStar, AvatarKorra_, King_Squirrel113 and BarelyDecisive for making it all possible in the first place!
It truly feels like a whole new generation of players are coming into their own and challenging the old guard. I have no idea what the future might hold, but I can't wait to find out.
Until we meet again. Ciao!
— KevinY3
I would like to add an additional thanks to KevinY3 for writing the report this month! These things take me ages to write, so having an able deputy is very welcome. I will still write the reports from time to time, and I will always be handing out the Awards. We all know that those are the most important thing about this whole 'Tournament' business!
— Dove