And in keeping with a very late announcement, a very late report on the results
Interesting evening, surprise appearances from both EMs, several fights, and a very noisy finale!
Trinsic Rose vs Old Blue Eyes - Fairly even in skills, Rose has more experience but a very unlucky record in the Arena, Blue fights hard and with training looks likely to go far. She was certainly keen, rushing across the arena to land the first few hits, but Rose put up a stubborn defence, blocking many of Blue's attacks and hitting back hard when she got chance. Old Blue Eyes weakened fast under Roses' counterattacks, and was fairly quickly finished off, to give Rose the victory.
Quicksilver vs Sango - Two regular fighters from last season, pretty fully trained and keen to win! Quicksilver lived up to her name and moved across the arena almost too quickly to see, taking an early lead, but again this was an evening for fightbacks, and Sango fought hard. This time though, the defender didn't hold the advantage, and Quicksilver kept landing hits that eventually knocked Sango out of the fight, despite Quicksilver taking quite a beating too!
Roadrunner Two vs EmileLayne
A surprise appearance by both EMs, complete with their own birds ready to fight (although there were a few problems getting them to actually fight each other, the first Roadrunner was a magnificent colour but she and EmileLayne simply would not fight each other, so a substitution was required, and we had to bring both birds into the ECL since their owner's are already in a guild that you don't leave
) Quite why Sarakan had a pet named Emile Layne, I leave to your imagination....
With untrained birds, we usually see a very close fight with almost nothing in it at the end - and they yet again confirmed that pattern! What tiny lead there was alternated between both birds, until finally Roadrunner Two stepped up the pressure and landed some hits that seemingly stunned EmileLayne, and then finished off the match.
Sky vs Sapphie - Both fully trained, experienced and tough fighters. Sapphie is slightly cleverer, Sky wins on speed and strength, but only by tiny amounts, so we got to see if it was possible to out-think your opponent... Sky ran in first, and both birds were landing hits so quickly the arena looked very messy after just a few seconds of the fight! Gradually, Sky built up a lead, never a large advantage but steadily wearing Sapphie down, which slowed her attacks and let Sky carry on the process until a final, hard won, victory for Sky was the outcome.
PeckyBalboa vs Noir - Pecky has had some impressive bouts, whilst Noir is usually a little less enthusiastic. Sadly, she lived up to her rather pedestrian past record, waiting for Pecky to dash in and start the match, then failing to block many of Pecky's attacks and although landing a hit or two, Noir was heavily outgunned and went down to another defeat. Maybe time she either got serious about her training, or retired to the egg farm! Congratulations to Pecky on a clear win.
Trinsic Steel vs Bernie - Almost identical in stats and skills, both regular fighters, and a tough match looked to be on the cards for these two. Bernie dashed in first, but Steel blocked almost all the attacks and hit back, taking a slight lead that Bernie immediately wrested back. Very tight bout, at the end nothing but red on the health bars, and the final deciding hit went to - Bernie, although it literally was down to which bird landed the last blow, it was so close.
Nari vs Tea - Highly placed last Season Nari is quite a fighter, Tea is a newer contender who had the advantage in strength, but lacked experience. Both birds began with some pretty heavy hits on their opponents, and all through the bout were very closely matched and it must have been a pretty bruising experience for both of them! Tea tried bravely, but in the end Nari's xperience gave her the endurance to outlast Tea's onslaught, and hold on for the win. If Tea trains up her dexterity a bit though, future matches could easily go the other way - but as it worked out this time, a very well fought victory for Nari.
Lightning vs Frosty - People go a little quiet when they check Lightning's stats, she's fast, strong and clever, well in the top ranges for all three for a battle chicken. Frosty comes near, and a match in skills, but has had a slight break from the arena and we did wonder if she was ready for a match. The answer was probably yes, but not against such an impressive opponent! Lightning took a quick lead, and never really looked troubled by anything Frosty tried to do to even the match, clinching a decisive victory pretty quickly.
And for the novelty fight - something slightly mechanically themed, and the biggest pack of fighters we've had in the arena - one normal dragon against five mechanical leather wolves, which as those who have fought them know have the ability to summon in more of their kind to help in a fight and have pack instinct too! From testing this match earlier, it was clear that if the dragon dawdled and changed targets too often, the wolves would grind the dragon down, so the key was fast kills for the dragon to weed out the pack before they overwhelm. The wolves though, played it perfectly - from the start of the fight, they ALL called for allies! Unsurprisingly, the dragon fought hard but was savaged before it killed any of the 'key' wolves and was rapidly defeated by the horde!
Status following match three :
3 : PeckyBalboa, Lightning
2 : Quicksilver, Sky
1 : Old Blue Eyes, Sapphie, Tea, Cerulean, Trinsic Steel, Trinsic Rose, Bernie, Nari, Roadrunner Two
Next match due Monday 20 September, 8PM UK time at the O*T Arena in Zento!
