Tass takes it
by: Kalamere - April 24, 2012
Friday night saw this year's Madness Championship match between Tass and Guaire. Guaire, under-rated at a 15 seed, the lowest I can recall for any standing Warlord, though still an unlikely champion. Only 3 of 44 pool entries thought he would make it to the Elite Eight, let alone to the Final; pulling out a win here would have been the Madness Cinderella Story. A cocky, ill-mannered Cinderella, but glass slipper shod none-the-less. On the other side was old man Tasslehofl. Current Baron of Old Temple and winner of the most recent Warlord Tournament, I'd like to have seen Tass as a #1 seed, but a 2 slot isn't so far off. Tass was the easy favorite considering his recent momentum, though skeptics might point out that winning two tournaments back to back is highly unlikely. Could lightning strike twice for Tass? After all, Gwarrr had been blowing through his competition with ease, while Tass just barely slipped by Sylus in the Final Four. The ever lovely Sarah Mattews had the call as Tass took the opening lead with a quick step around Guaire's lateral parry in round two and a sweep of his staff to earn the point. Showing early signs of life, the warlord brought the score back to even as he thrust under Tass's high arced attack. Reversed positions in round 5 then put Tass back in the lead and he added to it the following round with an expert low block to halt Guaire's advance. The thrust / high cut combination was popular this night, the third sighting came in round 7, again in Guaire's favor as he tried to make up the two point difference. Still back one though, with the score at 3-2, this would be the last point for the underdog. Rounds eight and nine belonged to Tass. A thrust, this time over a low attack nicely followed with a high defense to block CinderGwella's high follow and that was all she wrote. After 9 rounds, Tass took the Championship with a 5-2 final. Taking his second tourney win in a row and crushing the -1.25 line. Congratulations to the one time King of Commoners. For all you struggling duelists out there, take inspiration from this man. He's a true example of the success one can gain through perseverance.

	Four Up, Four Down -- Madness 2012, Finals Predictions
by: Rhydin Newswire - April 20, 2012
Hey, you know, this is great. You toil away for years and years, watch countless hours of tape, write umpteen articles (that get hacked to death by witless editors*) and field complaint after complaint like "Gosh, Colin, can't you be nicer to the people who suck? When you tell them they suck, they feel bad and gollygee, we can't have that Up with sensitivity and emotional coddling! Down with truth!" And now? All you whiny prats can piss the hell off -- your Governor knows talent when she reads it, and that's probably why she is where she is! Imagine me, Colin Talvitie, forever known as the recipient of a Governor's Service Medal! Hell, I didn't know that just doing my job could get me one of those things (Captain Futility getting one too almost, but doesn't quite, take the luster off) but hey, when you're good, you're good, and good gets recognized. Good call, Governor! And my thanks! Now, as for the upcoming Madness Finals Match...we've got anger (Guaire) vs. slobber (Tass). I didn't think Tass would make it this far in and picked him to lose way before now, but here he is anyway. Let's take a closer look at both journeys through Madness. Tasslehofl's Opponent Seedings: 15th, 7th (forfeit), 6th, 5th, 7th Guaire's Opponent Seedings: 2nd, 7th, 3rd, 1st, 7th Guaire's definitely hauled the tougher road so far, knocking off his division's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd seeds! Tass hasn't fought anyone higher than 5th and got a pass in the Round of 32 when his opponent didn't bother to show up. Both defeated 7-seeds to make it into the Finals. Guaire's giving up an average of 3.4 points per duel (a number skewed high due to the 8.5-7.0 score in the Sweet Sixteen) while Tass gives up 3.1 per duel (with 1 less duel to factor in, due to his forfeit victory). What's that tell us? It's not easy to score a lot of points against either of these guys. I'm betting Tass trips over his own kissy-face drool at least once during the match to give Guaire a free point. Given that three of Guaire's matches have ended in a 5-2 score and that he's consistently knocking off high seeds in this tournament, I'm thinking he hasn't come this far to go home empty-handed. Seedings and oddsmakers be damned; Guaire oughta be the favoured dueler in this matchup. Like it or not, Guaire's your 2012 Madness Champion. As for a final score, I'm going 5-3 Guaire, with an outside shot at 5-4 Guaire. We'll see if I'm right soon enough and hell, I might even go to this match live and in person! I'm sure that sets all your hearts aflutter. Colin Talvitie Staff Writer *DZN Editor's note: Colin's referring to the editors at the Ringside Post.

	Most Recent Mad Action
Tasslehofl Momus IS THE DoS MADNESS WINNER!
Tasslehofl Momus Wins the Western Confernce and advances to the Final!
Guaire Bryne Wins the Eastern Confernce and advances to the Final!
Sylus Kurgen Wins the Oakenshield Division! Advances to the Final Four.
Kheldar Drasinia Wins the Falon Division! Advances to the Final Four.

	1M Pool Closed and Casino Line Opened for the Final
by: Kalamere - April 16, 2012
The 1,000 silver pool was brought to a close Saturday night when Tass defeated Sylus in the Final Four. The 5-4 match was 10 rounds of nail biting action, but Tass had extra incentive beyond anything Yeardley might have been offering up, since a win on his part also cemented victory in the pool and an extra 2,200 silver that would no longer need to be shared with Candy. With the fat lady singing on the 1M pool, the payout looks like this: 1st Place: Tass - 11,000 silver 2nd Place: Kal - 6,600 silver 3rd Place: Candy - 4,400 silver Nobody is signing for the 100 silver pool quite yet, as 2nd and 3rd place have yet to be determined. Bleys needs a win from Guaire in the final to claim 2nd and bump Yeardley down to 3rd, otherwise he'll take 3rd and leave the exterior decorator in 2nd. With only 2 of 44 pool entries still having a care for the final, I needed some other way to take your money... I mean.. keep you all interested in the outcome. Granted, pure hatred of Guaire might have been enough, but the man's done more than well enough to earn a sliver of respect and hatred doesn't bring in coin. So, to that end, the DZ casino is now open for bets on the final. Line: Tass -1.25 over Guaire. Swing by and make a bet.

	Blood & Bone -- Round 5 Recap (Final Four)
by: Jake Thrash - April 14, 2012
The end of Madness is just around the corner, and what an interesting trip it's been! Guaire Byrne powered through Kheldar Drasinia, and Tasslehofl Momus slugged it out with Sylus Kurgen. It's down to a final duel between the "old man" and Gwarrr! One of them will be 5th winner of DoS Madness! Guaire, perhaps anxious to get on to the final, wasted no time getting Kheldar into a ring. The pair faced off last Thursday night, and Gwarrr! shut down Kheldar in a match that was all about aggression and timing. LC - TH <-- Guaire seizes with the lead. 1-0 HC - LC <-- Both duelers get aggressive. 2-1 Guaire. LC - HC <-- More bloodletting! 3-2 FSS - DI <-- Some dancing and manoeuvring. FCP - FCP <-- More wariness. LC - TH <-- Guaire leaps back on the attack. 4-2 FDU - FSS <-- A quick jump back to defense for both. SH - LC <-- Gwarrr! grabs the victory with more aggression. The warlord we love to hate is still walking the walk. He was there at just the right time, with just the right attack, to claim his spot in the Madness final. Tass and Sylus slugged it out earlier this evening, and this was a tight battle all the way down. The duelers traded points for five rounds before Tass was finally able to eke out a 2 point lead, which Sylus then promptly erased by tying the score up at 4-4. FLP - HC <-- Tass scores the first point. 1-0 LC - TH <-- Sylus scores to tie it up. 1-1 HC - SH <-- Tass takes the lead again. 2-1 FSS - HC <-- Sylus ties it right back up. 2-2 LC - FSS <-- Tass gains the lead again. 3-2 TH - LC <-- Tass widens his lead! 4-2 FSS - HC <-- Sylus fights back. 4-3 TH - FLP <-- Sylus isn't going down without a fight. 4-4 HC - HC <-- No winner yet. LC - SH <-- Sylus looks for another thrust, Tass cuts to win. 5-4 Sudden death, and Tass finally doubles up a cut and scores the winning point. This was a duel where dancing just didn't work. It was all about hacking and blocking. The kind of toe-to-toe brawling that an Orc can respect. So, the 2012 final will between Tass, the once self-titled King of Commoners, versus Gwarrr! the Great! (Or is that being redundant?) Tune in this week to see who triumphs! It promises to be an exciting match! Can Tass be the one to take down Guaire? Or will this be the year of Gwarrr!

	Blood & Bone -- Madness 2012 Round Four Recap (part 2)
by: Jake Thrash - April 10, 2012
Sylus beat down Neo to advance to the semi-final round in Madness, which finishes out the last of the duels from round four, and closes out the divisions as separate brackets. Before the match took place, I had commented on my fear that Neo hadn't been properly tested yet in this Madness. Two of his earlier opponents forfeited on him. So this match against Sylus was important in proving he was really in this event. The final score of the event was 5.5-2.5, which may look more lopsided than it was. TH - CP <-- 0-0.5 Neo takes first adv. LP - TH <-- 0.5-0.5 Sylus ties it up. LC - LC <-- cancel out FDU - TH <-- 0.5-1.5 Neo takes lead again. HC - FSS <-- 1.5-1.5 Sylus ties it up again. TH - HC <-- 2.5-1.5 Sylus takes the lead. HC - LC <-- 3.5-2.5 Sylus scores, so does Neo. LC - SL <-- 4.5-2.5 Sylus extends his lead. HC - SH <-- 5.5-2.5 Sylus takes the win. Neo and Sylus were pretty much tied through the first half of the duel. Neo, in fact, took the lead twice, but couldn't hold it. Then in the second half of the duel, both duelers got more aggressive. Maybe they were tired of the slow advancement in score, who knows? Sylus kept it simple, with hard attacks, while Neo tried a little more finesse, even daring a slash in an effort to mix things up. In this case, simple power won out. Sylus used a triple cut to finish it out. I advised Sylus to make Neo work for it, and he did. This was the longest duel in rounds. Neo held on as long as he could, but I think Sylus finally wore him down. Of the four duels in round four, three of the duels were won by three point leads. Guaire def. Gwen, 5-2 in 6 Tass def. Red, 5-2 in 8 Sylus def. Neo, 5.5-2.5 in 9 The closest duel was Aurast vs. Kheldar. Kheldar def. Aurast, 5-4 in 8 Aurast and Kheldar also reached sudden death, so it could easily have gone the other way. Four duelers, all who have proven their ability have advanced. All four are senior ranked. The next round promises to be exciting. Can Kheldar stop Guaire? I think that's the big question in many people's minds. Or, at least in this Orc's mind. Tune in later this week as the Madness action continues. And remember...GWARRRR!

	News on Pools
by: Kalamere - April 8, 2012
We're down to the Final Four, which means there are only 3 duels left in the tournment and I'll need to be paying out on the pools soon. There aren't very many possibilities left when it comes to who will get paid, but here's a quick look at how things could turn out. The 100 Silver Pool: • Who is left: 1st Kalamere 2nd Yeardley 3rd Mur 7th Bleys • Factors: Guaire and Tass A win by Tass next weekend seals the top slot for yours truly, but everything else will be determined by how Guaire fairs against Kheldar. Bleys, all the way down in 7th place, jumps up to 3rd if Guaire wins that match, bumping Mur out of the payout slot. If Guaire (or, as Jake says, Gwaarrr!) goes on to win the championship, then Bleys moves into 2nd, while Yeardley drops to 3rd; or maybe Bleys grabs 1st and pushes me to 2nd if Tass can't take down Sylus next weekend. Guaranteed to get Paid: Kal (1st or 2nd), Yeardley (2nd or 3rd) The 1,000 Silver Pool: • Who is left: 1st Candy 1st Tass 3rd Soerl 4th Kalamere • Factor: Tass Tass holds all the cards in this one. In the rather unique position of controlling whether or not he takes the full prize for first place or has to split the dough with Candy, he doesn't even have to win the whole show, just the semi-final against Sylus next weekend. The summary here is easy, if Tass wins he'll move into 1st, I move into 2nd and Candy drops down to 3rd, with Soerl getting knocked out of the running. If Sylus wins then things end exactly as they sit right now with Tass and Candy splitting the 1st and 2nd place pot and Soerl collecting 3rd while I nurse a beer and quietly curse the old man for losing to the other old man. Guaranteed to get Paid: Tass (1st or split 1st + 2nd), Candy (split 1st + 2nd or 3rd)

	Blood & Bone -- Madness 2012 Round Four Recap (part 1)
by: Jake Thrash - April 6, 2012
Guaire must know he's not the crowd favorite. But, he's not letting that stop him. Last night, he pretty much beat down Gwen, and he did it fast and hard.
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	Blood & Bone -- Madness 2012 Round Four
by: Jake Thrash - April 5, 2012
Madness is down to eight contenders. There's one last duel for each division. Let's go through 'em and get to the blood and bone of each contest.
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	Four Up, Four Down -- Madness 2012, Round 4 Predictions
by: Rhydin Newswire - April 5, 2012
(5) Red Ur'Thorne vs. (2) Tasslehofl Momus -- This one's easy to call. Tass'll be so busy blowing kisses to anything and everything that he won't notice Red carving out his bowels until it's too late. Seriously, have you ever seen anyone slobber so much in your life as this oldmandragonthing? If I'm another dragon, I'm shunning this guy and buying him a drool-proof hanky. Anyway, long story short, after this match, Tass'll have plenty of more time for applying his spittle to anything and everything because his 2012Madness dueling will be over. (1) Neo Eternity vs. (7) Sylus Kurgen -- The easy quid here's to bet on Neo, but let's remember one thing. Mr. Eternity hasn't dueled a full match since the 1st round. His round 2 opponent never showed up and his Round 3 opponent, well, we'll never forget the Lord of the Wankers quitting mid-duel, will we? Sylus, meantime, has pushed his way through two higher-seeded opponents and two pints says he does it again here. (1) Gwen Minx vs. (15) Guaire Bryne -- An epic battle of stabbity. Bleh, ok, I feel dirty after writing that. I think I need to knock back a couple pints, go to the loo and take a shower. But first, I'll finish off this prediction so I get paid. I'm having a tough time calling a winner here...Guaire's shown durability and tenacity in dispatching Kalamere with relative ease but struggling against Roderick and Rhiannon (needing 18 rounds to beat her). Gwen's more of a mixed bag, having trouble dispatching 16th seed Julianna, skipping Round 2 with a forfeit win, and coasting by Anubis, 5-2. If it's a short duel, Gwen's got it. If it goes longer than 8 or 9 rounds, I'll give the edge to Guaire. (9) Aurast Dagger Sasc vs. (7) Kheldar Drasinia -- The Sasc's going to have to man up bigtime against Kheldar, which may be doable if he keeps his focus. His first two opponents scored 2 points apiece while Wyheree scored 4 before he shut her down. Kheldar's faced a variety of opponents, from one of the dueling toddlers (Errtu) to longtime Arena veterans (Rand). His toughest match, not surprisingly, was against Rand and like The Sasc, he allowed 4 points in the Sweet Sixteen match. The Sasc's shown some moxy in this tournament but I think his bollocks are going to shrivel up and Kheldar'll come out on top (ugh, that's an image I now need to burn out of my brain. I think I'll opt for 4 pints and 2 showers).

	Four Up, Four Down -- Madness 2012, Round 3
by: Rhydin Newswire - April 2, 2012
As most of you recall, when tournaments like these wind down and fewer and fewer duelers remain, I tend to switch tactics a bit and delve into specific matches rather than highlighting eight overall duelers.
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