08-07-2020, 05:19 AM
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; }
It is the end of Day 2 and Chan and Ruon-Jian's Ember Island House Party Pai Sho Tournament is blazing on as the sun burns beyond the horizon. There were matches so furious today I could have sworn more than once I saw pixelated petals falling off their tiles as the flowers danced around the boards. Plenty of time could be spent replaying each match, but to keep you informed here are the highlights from the matches completed today.
TotallyPorff the brash Brit hashed out a clean win against bercuse with a balanced ring of roses and jades. It seems bercuse was attempting a flashy strategy having planted five flowers all of different kinds. Hopefully we will get a chance to see that play out in the L-bracket.
c0n0li0 defeated CarolBarra with a bright constelation of harmonies. Early on in the game c0n0li0 harmonized 3 flowers, but CarolBarra held a flower in the top gate preventing a premature loss. C0n0li0's responded by spamming out flowers at the bottom gate and shaking up CarolBarras hard won harmonies with his orchid. Finally CarolBarra was forced to bloom from the top gate and C0n0li0 siezed on the opportunity creating a ring that was double thick at the bottom. C0n0li0's response to the gate guarding seemed unorthodox, but it was effective and I would expect to see it tried again as more players review this match, and I encourage you all to do just that.
ZxTinyJ and ajsm had a lightning fast match, if you were distracted by the volleyball games down the beach for even a moment you would have missed it! Both players quickly deployed and harmonized their flowers, but ZxTinyJ took the win with a very well placed rock which left asjm defenseless to prevent ZxTinyJ from winning the very next turn with a short move and a wheel.
TheSchlunz and Urno1 completed a match today that could only be described as crazy. Like breathing blue fire and floppin like a fish crazy. Crazy! Both players exhausted their accent and special flower tiles and made their way well into their supply of basic flowers. Frankly it was hard to tell just what was going on for much pf the game, but as flowes bloomed moved, captured and wilted, TheSchlunz built up a robust pattern of harmonies. Whether by a grave mistake or as a sign of submission, Urno ended the game by moving a flower from between two of TheSchlunz's pieces thus completing the winning ring. Let me stress that in either case, TheSchlunz worked hard for that win!
LaoShagua defeated Sambrews in 8 turns, a swift and decisive game. Not much more can be said about it, except that at the end LaoShaga felt the odd sensation one gets after clubbing a baby seal. Heres wishing Sambrews better luck in the L-bracket.
payam took a win against mshires1124, by guarding the lower and left gates. mshires1124 failed to get the momentum necessary to prevent payam from making a fast ring of jades and roses.
Perhaps the most notable match today, Yagalo defeated Majora by the rare condition of owning more harmonies after being drained of flowers. My initial reaction to this game was to consider using explitives in my review. One look at the gameboard tells you something went wrong. To be fair both players did for a long time attempt to have a normal match, but play after play things got so out of hand that Yagalo had to sieze the opportunity to dump all their tiles in rapid order as there was no clear path to a harmony ring. A great game to spectate if you happen to be a masochist. Doing so infact caused dall(i)n to lose his mind for quite a while, triggering other players to join him in speaking in many various tongues, which I in German deemed a form of divine judgment against our hubris.
Parts of the world are coming awake now, but from my beach house it looks like I still have a few hours to catch a snooze. With only one day left and many matches left to be completed in this first round, we should expect day 3 to hold some fabulous surprises.
Its the end of Day 3 of Chan and Ruon-Jian's Ember Island House Party Pai Sho Tournament, any unfinished games will be closed tomorrow 8/4/2020 at noon US Eastern time, so if you are one of those lolligaggers GET TO THE BOARD! We want to see more matches like we had today, and as a bonus we are keeping the seats empty at the Ember Island Players current act! Here are the highlights from todays completed matches.
Halon_Keiser and parsa's match began with conventional patterns, Halon_Keiser taking an early lead while parsa set up for a left/right 2 gate strategy. At the last moment parsa disrupted with a boat, and by maintaining the pressure on managed to keep Halon_Keiser scattered. parsa took the win by pulling the last flower out of the gate and using a wheel to complete a ring.
Dr_Archadus began his match against joblsshomlssboy in a verr offensive posture, planting his orchid on his first harmony. By holding a flower in the center of the board, both players were left to slowly reconfigure their arrangements until finally by moving the orchid out of the way Dr_Archadus completed a ring and won the match. The good Dr was quoted as saying "i just thought of things on the fly, i had no idea what i was doing". It goes to show that even in the absence of strategic training a strong mind can find success in Skud Pai Sho.
geebung02 defeated Lightheart in a close match, both players began forming rings pretty quickly but geebung02 hung back a bit and used an early orchid to disable Lightheart's tactic. A decisive final move blooming a rose and shifting tiles with a wheel secured the win.
LifeSizeTriangle was moved to the L-bracket by Burce after a tense match including a vigorous orchid battle. When the Orchids locked together Burce had a clear advantage at making a winning ring. LifeSizeTriangle was left scrambling for a defense after Burce captured his orchid and in a few short moves Burce had the win by employing the wheel tile.
Tomorrow opens up round 2 of the tournament, and I know you are all excited to play again and follow your favorites as we edge closer to to the finals. Remember we will begin to see players eliminated from the tournament in this second round, so give it your all! Until then rest up, grab some tea and watch the tides change hour by hour as you contemplate your place in the universe.
Day 1 of Round 2 was a busy day here on Ember island, we saw an incredible number of matches completed. Before we get into today’s excitement, lets look over the incomplete matches from round 1.
Berserker2Fist was awarded a victory due to complete inactivity form Jrm4.
DragonOfTheNW was awarded victory due to complete inactivity form PaiHoe.
1GreatAdventurer beat Nobys_Nutz by having more harmonies with equal accent tiles when time ran out.
An_introvert_apparently beat 5up3r after 5up3r went afk and did not return.
Now that we are caught up on the last round, let’s dive right in to today’s matches!
Ohreaganoe made quick work of TheShlunz, both players having advanced to the second round by merit. TheShlunz was quick to get flowes out and even managed to threaten Oreaganoe with a clashing flower, but in the end Oreaganoe got the right flowers out of the right gates at the right times and steered himself into the 3rd round with a wheel.
Yagalo appeared to have an early advantage against TotallyPorff, making some quick harmonies while Porffy’s flowers scooted about the board. With victory withing reach for Yagalo, TotallyPorff launched his last flower into the gardens and used a boat to snap in his winning ring. You really have to see the match from the end to know what Porffy was up to, I could see how Yagalo may have been lulled into a false security.
Parsa soundly defeated Cabage_Peddler who must have not realized their sheer peril. Parsa managed to cause Cabbage_Peddler to concentrate their tiles at the top gate, and while he was trying to catch up Parsa’s white lotus bloomed and was launched into place by a well used boat.
C0n0li0 showed another very strong performance against payam, both players going for a quick 2 gate pattern, but mutually blocking one another. C0n0li0 deployed his orchid and gained an advantage by blocking and then capturing several flowers. Once the board was under control, C0n0li0 made a ring using payam’s lotus and a boat to complete the pattern.
Dall(i)n got his first match in the tournament today, facing off against ZxTinyJ and what a match! Both players were clearly operating at another level, both spamming out loads of flowers and working out complex patterns. ZxTinyJ deployed his orchid without a blooming lotus prompting Dall(i)n to get his out, but fully operational. Dall(i)n deftly navigate the whole board with his orchid, capturing, blocking and dodging from point to point. ZxTinyJ used his orchid to block one of Dall(i)n’s harmonies, but crated a catch 22 because moving his orchid at all would allow Dall(i)n to win on his turn. Dall(i)n captured ZxTinyJ’s orchid and from that point on he was completely focused on defense and unable to make a move toward creating a winning ring. In a flurry of disharmony captures and accent tiles Dall(i)n’s flowers drifted into a solid ring and with that he sent ZxTinyJ to the L-Bracket. If you are concerned with facing either of these excellent players in the future, this match is one that you must review in full.
TurtleGamin, our gracious organizer, may he live forever, had a quick match with geebung02. As the flowers began blooming geebung lost his momentum by sending out his orchid. He sent it right after TurtleGamin's red herring... Or red 4...? Regardless TurtleGamin had another waiting in the wings and bloomed it and wheeled a rose into position to make a ring.
samurai took on Berserker2fist with one win under his belt, and although both players are rather new to the game they put on quite a show! Both players got 3 flowers each harmonized in short order, but then samurai launched out with his orchid, full steam with a blooming lotus. Berserker2fist planted his orchid as well but kept his focus on building up a winning arrangement. Both players pulled of some great blocking with accent tiles and made a few captures with clashing flowers, but in the end samurai’s choice of doubling up on boats paid off as he lined up his tiles and removed a boat with his last boat forming the winning ring. Quoth samurai “it was a close one with missed wins on both sides but in the end i won”.
Pronetowander pulled a fast one on whitmore12 in their match today, pulling off a win by leaping from a single harmony to a full ring in one move. The match started with both players forming similar arrangements, but whitmore12 sent a ship to scuttle his opponent’s pattern. That move proved fatal and showed a distinct switch from a focus on winning to a focus on just not losing for whitmore12. Pronetowander sealed his fate by dropping a rock on the horizontal center line, dashing whitmore12’s hope of forging harmonies with his flowers planted at the gates on both sides. whitmore12 in an attempt to further stave off the inevitable botched the use of his second boat, lining Pronetowander up to end the match on his next turn. As someone who practices with Pronetowander I offer this advice to his future opponents. No. Sudden. Moves.
I, BaronAlbatross, the immutable, the humble did face off against the honorable Dr_Archadus. I went for a rapid pattern such as the one employed by Huu in day 1 of the first round. The persistent and flexible strategy paid off, unfortunately for Dr_Archadus he elected to block with a basic flower instead of deploying his planted orchid, allowing me to form my ring by rolling it out with my wheel. I attribute my victory to the super rad DragonForce music video I had playing on the TV nearby.
A bittersweet victory was achieved by LaoShagua after an intense match. Tree, encouraged by the good faith of his mother, burst out with a panoply of flowers, quickly moving toward a winning arrangement. LaoShagua realizing peace was never an option launched an effective reign of terror by way of the orchid. Tree made fantastic moves toward making a ring despite losing many of his tiles, but in the end LaoShagua formed a winning ring using tree’s own lotus. The frank and stark reality is that tree was about to win, until Lao Shagua whipped out an Orchid (Flower Muncher). The Orchid munched on every single one of Tree’s flowers that were in peace. Lao Shagua won the game. Tree was left feeling sad...alone...and sad.
Huu defeated resu532 in what was likely the longest and most perplexing match, which got a great deal of attention on the livestream today. The panel of commentators were perpetually 2 steps behind the players trying to discern their 3d chess level strategies. Both players pushed out a slew of flowers complicating the situation with disharmonies, Huu exhausted his accent tiles, but left himself in a strong position, rearranging flowers until finally resu532, distracted by capturing Huu’s orchid, allowed him to make a ring with no accent tiles. This was a very technical match, and worth reviewing either on the website or via the livestream recording.
parsa used the 5 flower arrangement to overturn Cabbage_Peddler’s cart. Cabbage_Peddler made a good effort to disrupt the pattern, but either intentionally or incidentally parsa held the gate he needed to make a ring until it was too late. A boat carried parsa’s lotus into position completing the winning harmony ring.
BattleKing00 came into round 2 with fury and a swinging hammer against TwoTheSecond. BattleKing00 used his first harmony bonus to disrupt TwoTheSecond’s only harmony with a knotweed, then using his second to roll TwoTheSecond’s flower out of range for further harmonies. Two the second pressed on, fighting back with an orchid and coming within a move of victory before BattleKing00 bashed him off to the other bracket.
Majora and berceuse faced off in the L-bracket and showed us that a loss is not enough to quench the spirit of hardcore Pai Sho players. Majora came out hot forming a solid arrangement, but berceuse responded with some harsh moves. Both players shifted and regrouped, well placed rocks prolonged the match a bit until Majora was able to complete his winning ring with a boat.
Thanks again to TotallyPorff for facilitating a fantastic livestream and for everyone who joined in on chat and live by audio. I would like to note that the revelry today was shadowed by a horrible explosion in Lebanon, our prayers are for the people. With that said let’s keep our heads up and be grateful for what we have and play every match like it’s the last.
Well folks we had a knock out first day of round 2 yesterday, and today is what I call in shorthand R2D2, like that beepy dude from the space movies. Wrong saga. We had a handfull of matches completed and we can look forward to quite a few more tomorrow. Much of the W- bracket was completed yesterday but we were not without action there today! The L-Bracket was off the chain today with several noteworthy matches. Let’s check it out!
On the W-Bracket ShepherdL defeated Morbius15… OF COURSE HE DID HE ALWAYS WINS… >:| Sorry. The match went rather quickly, however Morbius15 did make a good effort to block. He seemed to be a bit confused as to what he should do about ShepherdL’s knotweed and never really got his momentum back after it was placed.
On the L-bracket, Fatzo106 stepped up to CatholicChris in the first match completed today. It was a quick match, but cleanly played. Both players moved for a 7 turn win. CatholicChris used an extra harmony bonus to leave a rock in Fatzo106's path, forcing him to try to block with a flower tile which CatholicChris deftly swatted away with a wheel once his pieces were in place.
CarolBarra did not meet anywhere near the level of resistance against mshires1124 as in the match against c0n0li0, and executed a rapid 2 gate formation from the top and bottom gates, completely omitting the other two. Now when CarolBarra had 3 of the 4 flowers in position mshires1124 cut them off with a boat, moving the topleft most flower up a space. Carolbarra bloomed the 4th flower and dropped a knotweed on mshires1124 eliminating their harmonies. Carolbarra then repositioned their top right flower and used the harmony bonus to remove the boat. Now, I’m not telling you how to do your job CarolBarra, but you might have achieved victory a turn earlier by using a wheel next to your top left flower, putting it back in place and rotating the boat out of the way to win 1 turn earlier. Again, you do you, just thought you would like to know.
Well that’s it for today, I can hear the tide coming in on my sandcastles and although I was proud of them, I can always make better ones tomorrow. Have a great night and be ready for more action tomorrow!
Today was the final day of the second round of Chan and Ruon-Jian's Ember Island House Party Pai Sho Tournament, and what we lacked in volume of games we made up for in quality! Now players do have until 12PM US Eastern tomorrow to finish up their matches, and I am hoping to be able to review a few more games that are still ongoing. Since we don’t have a lot to go over tonight I would like to address a recent change to the official rules that may affect play in rare cases.
From ShinxKruez:
“Note this rule change for end-of-game in Skud Pai Sho in the case of a game not ending in a Harmony Ring...
...The game also will end when a player plays his or her last Basic Flower Tile. When this happens, the player with more remaining Accent Tiles wins. If players have the same amount of Accent Tiles, then the player with the most midline-crossing Harmonies on the board when the game ends wins (the tiles in midline-crossing Harmonies are in different quadrants of the board).”
There was some discussion of making the original rules available as an alternative, but I think we are done talking about the technical junk and the what-ifs. Lets have a look at what you read for, one of the most epic matches of the tournament so far!
Burce and 1GreatAdventurer gave us an excellent treat, their match ending with a 6-flower irregular shaped harmony ring. We saw a strong performance from Burce in the first round, but going in I was not sure what to expect from 1GreatAdventurer as their match was incomplete at the end of the round. This exciting match progressed quickly at first and 1GreatAdventurer took on an early advantage, very nearly making a winning ring before Burce pushed one of his flowers diagonally with a boat. Both players sent out their orchids without either having a blooming lotus. After a short scuffle and attempts to reconfigure the blooming flowers Burce did get his lotus out and immediately began capturing flowers. 1GreatAdventurer did an excellent job of pushing out more flowers in a defensive formation to slow the carnage. Burce balanced his rampage with his focus on victory and continued to move his flowers into position to make a wide ring of harmonies. At the very brink of defeat 1GreatAdventurer captured Burce’s orchid with nothing but a white jade blocking what would otherwise be a winning ring. Clearly 1GreatAdventurer was at a disadvantage as far as making a ring for himself although he did have the flowers on the board necessary to win. Only a few turns later though Burce came straight out with a spinning back hook kick, pushing his resources to the limit and forging an upside down L shaped chain of harmonies around the center of the board including 1GreatAdventurer’s own lotus for mega style points. Watch out L-Bracket players, 1GreatAdventurer has entered your arena and he has the chops to clean up the bracket. Congratulations to Burce for advancing again in the W-Bracket and earning the privilege of facing LaoShagua the Lumberjack in round 3 tomorrow.
Once again players, we have a few hours left to wrap up any unfinished games and we will begin round 3 matches tomorrow at 12PM Eastern time. In the meantime, find a new way to serve your neighbors and loved ones. The endorphins will give you an edge in the upcoming matches!
Day 1 of Chan and Ruon-Jian's Ember Island House Party Pai Sho Tournament is coming to a close now, and although there is a lot of action yet ahead of us, today offered some fantastic excitement for players and spectators. Several matches were completed, and many are in progress as the last bonfires dwindle on the beach. The day started with a livestream, and through it all we saw elation and sorrow, laughter and despair and of course tree buzzing about offering encouragement and wisdom as only a tree can.
The matches completed over the course of the day were both entertaining and educational, so here are the highlights from each completed match.
BattleKing00 defeated Cap in a short but intense match. BattleKing used his first harmony bonus to kneecap his opponent's only blooming flower with knotweed. He managed to maintain the advantage right through to the end, Cap never being given a chance to bloom enough flowers to win.
samurai defeated Mako27 with a small lilly rampage, preventing Mako27 from making a winning ring. samurai rolled into victory aligning his white jade with his opponent's lotus with a wheel.
ShepherdL defeated CatholicChris, but not without a fight. CatholicChris made some great moves to block ShepherdL while building a chain, just not quite fast enough to take the win.
Shader17 sadly stood no chance against Huu's blitzkreig. Huu employed a strategy of rapidly deploying flowers and forming a ring by moving each flower only once, with the exception of one which was blocked.
Cabbagepeddler managed to defeat electrohex after a brief but nerve-wracking lilly duel.
Sachouh was sent to the L-bracket by oreaganoe after levying a brutal campaign of gate occupation and capturing 3 of oreaganoes flowers in a single move of his lilly. Despite all these measures oreaganoe joined the growing list of victors who have made the wheel their final tile.
By far the most exciting match to date in this tournament was between Mithrandir42 and Pronetowander. After both players exhausted all their accent and special flower tiles Pronetowander managed to carve out a ring on a very cluttered board. At several times through the match it seemed to be anyone's game, but Pronetowander managed to hold on to a wheel until the end which gave him the edge he needed. I highly reccommend reviewing this match if you missed it.
A special thanks to TotallyPorff for livestreaming and providing commentary on matches in the early hours of the tournament. Listening while working on my car reminded me of being with my dad in his workshop while a football game was announced on the radio. Feels good man. Hail also TurtleGamin for organizing the event.
Goodnight players and fans, rest up and be ready for more extreme summer fun as the tournament continues!It is the end of Day 2 and Chan and Ruon-Jian's Ember Island House Party Pai Sho Tournament is blazing on as the sun burns beyond the horizon. There were matches so furious today I could have sworn more than once I saw pixelated petals falling off their tiles as the flowers danced around the boards. Plenty of time could be spent replaying each match, but to keep you informed here are the highlights from the matches completed today.
TotallyPorff the brash Brit hashed out a clean win against bercuse with a balanced ring of roses and jades. It seems bercuse was attempting a flashy strategy having planted five flowers all of different kinds. Hopefully we will get a chance to see that play out in the L-bracket.
c0n0li0 defeated CarolBarra with a bright constelation of harmonies. Early on in the game c0n0li0 harmonized 3 flowers, but CarolBarra held a flower in the top gate preventing a premature loss. C0n0li0's responded by spamming out flowers at the bottom gate and shaking up CarolBarras hard won harmonies with his orchid. Finally CarolBarra was forced to bloom from the top gate and C0n0li0 siezed on the opportunity creating a ring that was double thick at the bottom. C0n0li0's response to the gate guarding seemed unorthodox, but it was effective and I would expect to see it tried again as more players review this match, and I encourage you all to do just that.
ZxTinyJ and ajsm had a lightning fast match, if you were distracted by the volleyball games down the beach for even a moment you would have missed it! Both players quickly deployed and harmonized their flowers, but ZxTinyJ took the win with a very well placed rock which left asjm defenseless to prevent ZxTinyJ from winning the very next turn with a short move and a wheel.
TheSchlunz and Urno1 completed a match today that could only be described as crazy. Like breathing blue fire and floppin like a fish crazy. Crazy! Both players exhausted their accent and special flower tiles and made their way well into their supply of basic flowers. Frankly it was hard to tell just what was going on for much pf the game, but as flowes bloomed moved, captured and wilted, TheSchlunz built up a robust pattern of harmonies. Whether by a grave mistake or as a sign of submission, Urno ended the game by moving a flower from between two of TheSchlunz's pieces thus completing the winning ring. Let me stress that in either case, TheSchlunz worked hard for that win!
LaoShagua defeated Sambrews in 8 turns, a swift and decisive game. Not much more can be said about it, except that at the end LaoShaga felt the odd sensation one gets after clubbing a baby seal. Heres wishing Sambrews better luck in the L-bracket.
payam took a win against mshires1124, by guarding the lower and left gates. mshires1124 failed to get the momentum necessary to prevent payam from making a fast ring of jades and roses.
Perhaps the most notable match today, Yagalo defeated Majora by the rare condition of owning more harmonies after being drained of flowers. My initial reaction to this game was to consider using explitives in my review. One look at the gameboard tells you something went wrong. To be fair both players did for a long time attempt to have a normal match, but play after play things got so out of hand that Yagalo had to sieze the opportunity to dump all their tiles in rapid order as there was no clear path to a harmony ring. A great game to spectate if you happen to be a masochist. Doing so infact caused dall(i)n to lose his mind for quite a while, triggering other players to join him in speaking in many various tongues, which I in German deemed a form of divine judgment against our hubris.
Parts of the world are coming awake now, but from my beach house it looks like I still have a few hours to catch a snooze. With only one day left and many matches left to be completed in this first round, we should expect day 3 to hold some fabulous surprises.
Its the end of Day 3 of Chan and Ruon-Jian's Ember Island House Party Pai Sho Tournament, any unfinished games will be closed tomorrow 8/4/2020 at noon US Eastern time, so if you are one of those lolligaggers GET TO THE BOARD! We want to see more matches like we had today, and as a bonus we are keeping the seats empty at the Ember Island Players current act! Here are the highlights from todays completed matches.
Halon_Keiser and parsa's match began with conventional patterns, Halon_Keiser taking an early lead while parsa set up for a left/right 2 gate strategy. At the last moment parsa disrupted with a boat, and by maintaining the pressure on managed to keep Halon_Keiser scattered. parsa took the win by pulling the last flower out of the gate and using a wheel to complete a ring.
Dr_Archadus began his match against joblsshomlssboy in a verr offensive posture, planting his orchid on his first harmony. By holding a flower in the center of the board, both players were left to slowly reconfigure their arrangements until finally by moving the orchid out of the way Dr_Archadus completed a ring and won the match. The good Dr was quoted as saying "i just thought of things on the fly, i had no idea what i was doing". It goes to show that even in the absence of strategic training a strong mind can find success in Skud Pai Sho.
geebung02 defeated Lightheart in a close match, both players began forming rings pretty quickly but geebung02 hung back a bit and used an early orchid to disable Lightheart's tactic. A decisive final move blooming a rose and shifting tiles with a wheel secured the win.
LifeSizeTriangle was moved to the L-bracket by Burce after a tense match including a vigorous orchid battle. When the Orchids locked together Burce had a clear advantage at making a winning ring. LifeSizeTriangle was left scrambling for a defense after Burce captured his orchid and in a few short moves Burce had the win by employing the wheel tile.
Tomorrow opens up round 2 of the tournament, and I know you are all excited to play again and follow your favorites as we edge closer to to the finals. Remember we will begin to see players eliminated from the tournament in this second round, so give it your all! Until then rest up, grab some tea and watch the tides change hour by hour as you contemplate your place in the universe.
Day 1 of Round 2 was a busy day here on Ember island, we saw an incredible number of matches completed. Before we get into today’s excitement, lets look over the incomplete matches from round 1.
Berserker2Fist was awarded a victory due to complete inactivity form Jrm4.
DragonOfTheNW was awarded victory due to complete inactivity form PaiHoe.
1GreatAdventurer beat Nobys_Nutz by having more harmonies with equal accent tiles when time ran out.
An_introvert_apparently beat 5up3r after 5up3r went afk and did not return.
Now that we are caught up on the last round, let’s dive right in to today’s matches!
Ohreaganoe made quick work of TheShlunz, both players having advanced to the second round by merit. TheShlunz was quick to get flowes out and even managed to threaten Oreaganoe with a clashing flower, but in the end Oreaganoe got the right flowers out of the right gates at the right times and steered himself into the 3rd round with a wheel.
Yagalo appeared to have an early advantage against TotallyPorff, making some quick harmonies while Porffy’s flowers scooted about the board. With victory withing reach for Yagalo, TotallyPorff launched his last flower into the gardens and used a boat to snap in his winning ring. You really have to see the match from the end to know what Porffy was up to, I could see how Yagalo may have been lulled into a false security.
Parsa soundly defeated Cabage_Peddler who must have not realized their sheer peril. Parsa managed to cause Cabbage_Peddler to concentrate their tiles at the top gate, and while he was trying to catch up Parsa’s white lotus bloomed and was launched into place by a well used boat.
C0n0li0 showed another very strong performance against payam, both players going for a quick 2 gate pattern, but mutually blocking one another. C0n0li0 deployed his orchid and gained an advantage by blocking and then capturing several flowers. Once the board was under control, C0n0li0 made a ring using payam’s lotus and a boat to complete the pattern.
Dall(i)n got his first match in the tournament today, facing off against ZxTinyJ and what a match! Both players were clearly operating at another level, both spamming out loads of flowers and working out complex patterns. ZxTinyJ deployed his orchid without a blooming lotus prompting Dall(i)n to get his out, but fully operational. Dall(i)n deftly navigate the whole board with his orchid, capturing, blocking and dodging from point to point. ZxTinyJ used his orchid to block one of Dall(i)n’s harmonies, but crated a catch 22 because moving his orchid at all would allow Dall(i)n to win on his turn. Dall(i)n captured ZxTinyJ’s orchid and from that point on he was completely focused on defense and unable to make a move toward creating a winning ring. In a flurry of disharmony captures and accent tiles Dall(i)n’s flowers drifted into a solid ring and with that he sent ZxTinyJ to the L-Bracket. If you are concerned with facing either of these excellent players in the future, this match is one that you must review in full.
TurtleGamin, our gracious organizer, may he live forever, had a quick match with geebung02. As the flowers began blooming geebung lost his momentum by sending out his orchid. He sent it right after TurtleGamin's red herring... Or red 4...? Regardless TurtleGamin had another waiting in the wings and bloomed it and wheeled a rose into position to make a ring.
samurai took on Berserker2fist with one win under his belt, and although both players are rather new to the game they put on quite a show! Both players got 3 flowers each harmonized in short order, but then samurai launched out with his orchid, full steam with a blooming lotus. Berserker2fist planted his orchid as well but kept his focus on building up a winning arrangement. Both players pulled of some great blocking with accent tiles and made a few captures with clashing flowers, but in the end samurai’s choice of doubling up on boats paid off as he lined up his tiles and removed a boat with his last boat forming the winning ring. Quoth samurai “it was a close one with missed wins on both sides but in the end i won”.
Pronetowander pulled a fast one on whitmore12 in their match today, pulling off a win by leaping from a single harmony to a full ring in one move. The match started with both players forming similar arrangements, but whitmore12 sent a ship to scuttle his opponent’s pattern. That move proved fatal and showed a distinct switch from a focus on winning to a focus on just not losing for whitmore12. Pronetowander sealed his fate by dropping a rock on the horizontal center line, dashing whitmore12’s hope of forging harmonies with his flowers planted at the gates on both sides. whitmore12 in an attempt to further stave off the inevitable botched the use of his second boat, lining Pronetowander up to end the match on his next turn. As someone who practices with Pronetowander I offer this advice to his future opponents. No. Sudden. Moves.
I, BaronAlbatross, the immutable, the humble did face off against the honorable Dr_Archadus. I went for a rapid pattern such as the one employed by Huu in day 1 of the first round. The persistent and flexible strategy paid off, unfortunately for Dr_Archadus he elected to block with a basic flower instead of deploying his planted orchid, allowing me to form my ring by rolling it out with my wheel. I attribute my victory to the super rad DragonForce music video I had playing on the TV nearby.
A bittersweet victory was achieved by LaoShagua after an intense match. Tree, encouraged by the good faith of his mother, burst out with a panoply of flowers, quickly moving toward a winning arrangement. LaoShagua realizing peace was never an option launched an effective reign of terror by way of the orchid. Tree made fantastic moves toward making a ring despite losing many of his tiles, but in the end LaoShagua formed a winning ring using tree’s own lotus. The frank and stark reality is that tree was about to win, until Lao Shagua whipped out an Orchid (Flower Muncher). The Orchid munched on every single one of Tree’s flowers that were in peace. Lao Shagua won the game. Tree was left feeling sad...alone...and sad.
Huu defeated resu532 in what was likely the longest and most perplexing match, which got a great deal of attention on the livestream today. The panel of commentators were perpetually 2 steps behind the players trying to discern their 3d chess level strategies. Both players pushed out a slew of flowers complicating the situation with disharmonies, Huu exhausted his accent tiles, but left himself in a strong position, rearranging flowers until finally resu532, distracted by capturing Huu’s orchid, allowed him to make a ring with no accent tiles. This was a very technical match, and worth reviewing either on the website or via the livestream recording.
parsa used the 5 flower arrangement to overturn Cabbage_Peddler’s cart. Cabbage_Peddler made a good effort to disrupt the pattern, but either intentionally or incidentally parsa held the gate he needed to make a ring until it was too late. A boat carried parsa’s lotus into position completing the winning harmony ring.
BattleKing00 came into round 2 with fury and a swinging hammer against TwoTheSecond. BattleKing00 used his first harmony bonus to disrupt TwoTheSecond’s only harmony with a knotweed, then using his second to roll TwoTheSecond’s flower out of range for further harmonies. Two the second pressed on, fighting back with an orchid and coming within a move of victory before BattleKing00 bashed him off to the other bracket.
Majora and berceuse faced off in the L-bracket and showed us that a loss is not enough to quench the spirit of hardcore Pai Sho players. Majora came out hot forming a solid arrangement, but berceuse responded with some harsh moves. Both players shifted and regrouped, well placed rocks prolonged the match a bit until Majora was able to complete his winning ring with a boat.
Thanks again to TotallyPorff for facilitating a fantastic livestream and for everyone who joined in on chat and live by audio. I would like to note that the revelry today was shadowed by a horrible explosion in Lebanon, our prayers are for the people. With that said let’s keep our heads up and be grateful for what we have and play every match like it’s the last.
Well folks we had a knock out first day of round 2 yesterday, and today is what I call in shorthand R2D2, like that beepy dude from the space movies. Wrong saga. We had a handfull of matches completed and we can look forward to quite a few more tomorrow. Much of the W- bracket was completed yesterday but we were not without action there today! The L-Bracket was off the chain today with several noteworthy matches. Let’s check it out!
On the W-Bracket ShepherdL defeated Morbius15… OF COURSE HE DID HE ALWAYS WINS… >:| Sorry. The match went rather quickly, however Morbius15 did make a good effort to block. He seemed to be a bit confused as to what he should do about ShepherdL’s knotweed and never really got his momentum back after it was placed.
On the L-bracket, Fatzo106 stepped up to CatholicChris in the first match completed today. It was a quick match, but cleanly played. Both players moved for a 7 turn win. CatholicChris used an extra harmony bonus to leave a rock in Fatzo106's path, forcing him to try to block with a flower tile which CatholicChris deftly swatted away with a wheel once his pieces were in place.
CarolBarra did not meet anywhere near the level of resistance against mshires1124 as in the match against c0n0li0, and executed a rapid 2 gate formation from the top and bottom gates, completely omitting the other two. Now when CarolBarra had 3 of the 4 flowers in position mshires1124 cut them off with a boat, moving the topleft most flower up a space. Carolbarra bloomed the 4th flower and dropped a knotweed on mshires1124 eliminating their harmonies. Carolbarra then repositioned their top right flower and used the harmony bonus to remove the boat. Now, I’m not telling you how to do your job CarolBarra, but you might have achieved victory a turn earlier by using a wheel next to your top left flower, putting it back in place and rotating the boat out of the way to win 1 turn earlier. Again, you do you, just thought you would like to know.
Well that’s it for today, I can hear the tide coming in on my sandcastles and although I was proud of them, I can always make better ones tomorrow. Have a great night and be ready for more action tomorrow!
Today was the final day of the second round of Chan and Ruon-Jian's Ember Island House Party Pai Sho Tournament, and what we lacked in volume of games we made up for in quality! Now players do have until 12PM US Eastern tomorrow to finish up their matches, and I am hoping to be able to review a few more games that are still ongoing. Since we don’t have a lot to go over tonight I would like to address a recent change to the official rules that may affect play in rare cases.
From ShinxKruez:
“Note this rule change for end-of-game in Skud Pai Sho in the case of a game not ending in a Harmony Ring...
...The game also will end when a player plays his or her last Basic Flower Tile. When this happens, the player with more remaining Accent Tiles wins. If players have the same amount of Accent Tiles, then the player with the most midline-crossing Harmonies on the board when the game ends wins (the tiles in midline-crossing Harmonies are in different quadrants of the board).”
There was some discussion of making the original rules available as an alternative, but I think we are done talking about the technical junk and the what-ifs. Lets have a look at what you read for, one of the most epic matches of the tournament so far!
Burce and 1GreatAdventurer gave us an excellent treat, their match ending with a 6-flower irregular shaped harmony ring. We saw a strong performance from Burce in the first round, but going in I was not sure what to expect from 1GreatAdventurer as their match was incomplete at the end of the round. This exciting match progressed quickly at first and 1GreatAdventurer took on an early advantage, very nearly making a winning ring before Burce pushed one of his flowers diagonally with a boat. Both players sent out their orchids without either having a blooming lotus. After a short scuffle and attempts to reconfigure the blooming flowers Burce did get his lotus out and immediately began capturing flowers. 1GreatAdventurer did an excellent job of pushing out more flowers in a defensive formation to slow the carnage. Burce balanced his rampage with his focus on victory and continued to move his flowers into position to make a wide ring of harmonies. At the very brink of defeat 1GreatAdventurer captured Burce’s orchid with nothing but a white jade blocking what would otherwise be a winning ring. Clearly 1GreatAdventurer was at a disadvantage as far as making a ring for himself although he did have the flowers on the board necessary to win. Only a few turns later though Burce came straight out with a spinning back hook kick, pushing his resources to the limit and forging an upside down L shaped chain of harmonies around the center of the board including 1GreatAdventurer’s own lotus for mega style points. Watch out L-Bracket players, 1GreatAdventurer has entered your arena and he has the chops to clean up the bracket. Congratulations to Burce for advancing again in the W-Bracket and earning the privilege of facing LaoShagua the Lumberjack in round 3 tomorrow.
Once again players, we have a few hours left to wrap up any unfinished games and we will begin round 3 matches tomorrow at 12PM Eastern time. In the meantime, find a new way to serve your neighbors and loved ones. The endorphins will give you an edge in the upcoming matches!
The teaching informs the form. The form teaches.
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
Messages In This Thread
Reporting on Chan & Roun-Jian's Skud Pai Sho Tournament - by BaronAlbatross - 08-07-2020, 05:19 AM
RE: Reporting on Chan & Roun-Jian's Skud Pai Sho Tournament - by BaronAlbatross - 08-11-2020, 05:20 AM
RE: Reporting on Chan & Roun-Jian's Skud Pai Sho Tournament - by BaronAlbatross - 08-13-2020, 05:41 AM
Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)