What You Missed: Tournaments of the Branch
by Ben "Pilpus" Lacasse
When I look back and think about what made some of my favorite tournament adventures great, I often distinctly remember that every one I remember best has some kind of epic quest, memorable food or great company to carry the experience. Sometimes it’s impromptu field courts that capture the memory, others it’s hilarity around the fire pits. This is all to say that tournaments succeeding on the merits and promise alone of interesting fights is extremely hard to achieve. This weekend at Tournaments of the Branch, I for the first time got to experience the raw, unadulterated adrenaline that is being completely absorbed and encaptured in amazing fight after amazing fight and it has swiftly become my favorite true tournament experience. It quite honestly shattered my expectations and raised the bar for every tournament I’ll attend for the rest of my adventures.
This isn’t to say that any of the auxiliary things about this event were lackluster- The food and company were as delicious and entertaining, respectively, as many of the other tournaments I’ve attended- but it's so rare that 2 warriors in a field can capture the attention of a whole site in the way that this particular set of tournaments did.
The first thing to love about the way these tournaments were held is that they created more realistic brackets. By separating Knights, Squires and the Unaffiliated (Though they did merge Squires and the Unaffiliated to increase bracket sizes) it provided real, attainable competition for the competitors in that bracket, which was an excellent departure from the usual routine bulldozing that occurs when green adventurers step into the ring with seasoned veterans.
Another thing to gush about is the advent of “By” rounds that ensure all competitors in a bracket had an equal number of fights, as a test of endurance. In the Squire and Unaffiliated brackets, allowing the “By”s to be fought by those in the Knight class at no penalty provided for significantly more impactful learning opportunities, that appeared at least to sting less than brutal round 1 smackdowns where both sides have something to lose, which is routinely pretty punishing for those newer to the tournament circuit. It also provided opportunities in both brackets for people who’d been eliminated early to test their metal against opponents they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten the chance to have a bout with. One of my favorite examples of that was watching Irri fight Fern in a “By” round after Irri had been eliminated the round before, which gave me the ability to watch my friends have an interesting match that Irri wouldn’t have gotten to have to gauge her own progress had this system not been in place.
On the topic of spectating, I loved how the marshals made no tournament a side show. Very often at tournaments, you’ll see over-bloated schedules with so many things running concurrently that it's hard for spectators to know where to focus. At Tournaments of the Branch, they kept it simple. 1 Field, 1 Fight at a time, Best of 3, Single elimination with a bardic entry in between each weapon styling as they took names and built the brackets for the next tournaments. Were there less specific tournaments over all?- Yes, but getting the opportunity to pay attention to (Hopefully) future opponents as they fight and formulate strategies in real time based on actually assessing their sword play was easily worth not doing 3 variations of florentine (True, Mixed and Sword and Dagger). It gave Knights time to assess and prep their squires, it gave squires time to observe and internalize the knights instructions and actions, and ultimately it made for a much more enjoyable experience than running ragged between 3 different fields and praying that you actually get to watch/participate in your B and C choice tournaments. I’ve never had the time at any other tournament to truly assess and enjoy my competition in a way that didn’t prevent me from doing other fun things before, and getting to do that at Tournaments of the Branch was a welcome change of pace. Not to mention, the between Styling entertainment of having the bardics run on the main field was ingenious. It made catching your breath and thinking about your next rounds much more enjoyable than just sitting silently in a field in anxious anticipation.
When it comes down to brass tacks, the meat of what makes a tournament enjoyable is a very delicate balance that requires competent marshals, great organization, and interesting competitors, which thankfully these tourneys had no shortage of in any department. My last few paragraphs gush over the systems, but the marshaling was equally as fair and excellent. The marshals knew where to be easy and where to scrutinize and ultimately it led to making the competitive roster significantly more enjoyable to participate in. But all of that would be pointless if there weren't talented and engaging adventurers to battle.
What you missed in my fight observation highlight reel is as follows-
1. Sir Temorse being an absolute whirlwind of iron and steel in legitimately every single doubles match. No matter how much armor they shaved off of him, or how many partners they picked off, there wasn’t a single point where you could ease up or he’d swiftly remind you that in any position he is lethal. Even when he lost, his opponents were fragged all over, limbed and practically crawling back to the start line
2. Sir Loken and Magus Kaelkatar taking every single competitor to cardio training. They are faster even on 1 leg than most people on 2 and if anybody beat them, it ended with their opponents heaving at the hilltop while they casually strided back to their starting zone.
3. Watching Ser Elizah take on Sir Temorse in the Sword and Board opening matches. Round 1 went to Sir Temorse, but when he attempted to replicate the opener he’d just used the round before, Ser Elizah caught him mid way and beat him down before he could get a single shot fully out. Even though Temorse went on to win in round 3, every single round was a joy to watch!
4. Sir Killian and Magus Kaelkatar dominating in spirit and steel. Watching such a wordlessly coordinated pair of excellent combatants artfully isolate and pick off every opponent was like watching poetry in motion.
5. Sir Loken and Sir Tao’s single combatant semi final, where they agreed to an epic swings match that ended in an unplanned, simultaneous back shot. I don’t remember how we arrived there but the image of both men on their knees, landing the same shot on eachother, crying in anguish and falling forward dead is one that will live rent free in my mind forever.
6. As someone who's gotten to watch Irri and Fern at practice, seeing them go head to head with other competent fighters in their cohort and watching them both excel was a heartwarming experience personally. I’m so excited to see their endeavors moving forward in all pursuits and watching them show how much they’d learned since the start of this adventuring season breathed renewed life into the sparring partner in me.
7. My personal favorite fights of the day, Single combatant finals, Myself vs. Sir Killian. I got to use the new florentine method I’d been working on to climb up to the bracket to the first finals match I’ve ever gotten in any combat tournament ever. Both rounds were razor close with Sir Killian deservedly edging me out with an ultimately more defensive style that let him sneak more low, fast shots in than I could effectively parry while keeping the pressure on, but it certainly was the most proud of myself I’ve ever been on the field.
I feel so spoiled having to have gotten to enjoy this delightful excursion to the lands of Chimeron, as I expect it will be a long time before something in the tourney genre turns out to be as entertaining as being the first batch of competitors for this new (hopefully) staple tournament moving forward. My advice: Don’t miss it next year because though the floor is high, the ceiling is higher still! I look forward to more engaging and interesting fights and in the most endearing way possible, hope to be opposite you all in them at the next Tournaments of the Branch.
TLDR: I would kill armies for the delicious apple pie truffles Sir Aeston and Sir Gwen made, but somehow the Tournament was still the best part of the event. NOT mixing the Maple and Pumpkin spice whip cream is heresy and should be punishable by death. Until next time friends!