Blacksword Tournament

About

Every year Atlantia holds tournaments to demonstrate skill, improvement, and prowess, but the grandest of our tournaments cannot be held within any one event. The Blackswords end amongst the blaze of the summer sun, and are reborn under the first days of fall. The standings from last year cleared like the thick summer air by the first crisp day of autumn. All hold on to their spot by a knife’s edge, a single pass. Some enter to claim that they deserve a shot at immortal glory on the fields of Pennsic. Others enter to test how far their studies have taken them. All leave with the best fights their opponent has to offer.

Tournament Rules

The Blacksword Competition is composed of a series of single elimination tournaments held through Atlantia. The results from individual tournaments, including the outcome of each pairing, are aggregated together to create a final score over the course of a Blacksword season. Participants are encouraged to bring their best form and fight in as many tournaments as possible to achieve the highest score.

The results of The Blacksword Competition are used by both the Rapier Warlord and individual fighters. Firstly they are used to aid the Warlord in choosing champions at Pennsic and Gulf. For this reason each season begins in the fall after Pennsic and lasts until July the following calendar year. Then the results are posted publicly on the Academie d’Espee page. This allows for individual participants to track their score from year to year and see personal growth.

Fighting in The Blacksword Competition does not mean one has to participate in Champions if a slot is offered. Individuals who do not wish to fight in Champions or cannot attend pennsic are still encouraged to fight in all of the The Blacksword Tournaments to see their own progress or to see the best fight others have to offer.

Each Blacksword Tournament shall be a single elimination tournament with destructive byes. If both fighters are simultaneously defeated in a bout the bout will be refought once. If the same outcome is achieved the match is declared a “No Contest” and neither fighter advances to the next round and both fighters receive no points for the round. Fighters do not need to be in the Academie d’Espee nor hail from the Kingdom of Atlantia to participate. A critical part of what makes a Blacksword Tournament different from a generic single elimination is the aggregation of the data. The manner in which this data is aggregated requires the outcome of each pairing and as such if only partial results are reported for a given tournament it cannot be aggregated with the others.

FOR MOLS: Information to collect + Instructions

Assign each fighter a number, typically using the sign-up sheet.

Record the following information for each fighter on a card:

• Fighters Name
• Fighter Rank, using one of the following:

• Scholar or Novice – 1
• Free Scholar or AoA-Level Award – 2
• Provost, White Scarf, or GOA-Level Award – 3
• Master of Defense - 4

• Home Branch (optional but highly suggested for common names)
• The fighter's assigned number for this tournament

To begin the tournament, randomly shuffle and pair off. If it’s a lot of people, don’t worry about pairing. The RMIC will just pull them in sets of 2 off the top. When the fighters come back, record who won on both cards and set the loser aside in a ‘dead’ pile. If 1 beat 2, record 1-2 on both cards. If 14 beat 35, put 14-35 on both cards, and so on. It is a single elimination, so the loser pile becomes inactive. The winner pile when you receive all cards back in will just be shuffled again and paired off. Repeat until finished.

FOR MOLS OR RMICs: Reporting Information

If you wish to run a Blacksword at your event or have outcomes to report, please contact Nicolo Santorio at blacksword@marshal.atlantia.sca.org

Scoring and Aggregation

Each victory in a Blacksword tournament earns a number of points to the victor equal to their opponent's rank represented as a number from 1 to 4, as described in the MOL instructions above. Points are earned for every victory, even if the fighter doesn't win the tournament itself. Losses do not affect accumulated points. At the end of a season, the coordinator totals up the points of all fighters that participated, and provides a list of the top ten to the rapier warlord. The coordinator may optionally calculate the fighters' average scores from all of the Blacksword tournaments they participated in.

Blacksword Tournament Results/Schedule

Blacksword Tournaments for 2021/2022

• Battle on the Bay 9/24/2021 - Winner: Jacques Gonse (NOTE: Individual scores were lost)
• Tourney of the Silver Chalice 9/25/2021 - Scores and outcome lost
• 47th Tournament of Ymir 2/11/2022 - Winner: Jacques Gonse
• Ruby Joust 05/28/22 - Winner: Double-kill between Jacques Gonse and Brian de Moray
• Storvik Novice and Unbelt Tournament 7/9/2022 - Winner: Jacques Gonse

Blacksword Tournaments for 2019/2020 year

• Rip Rap War 9/14/19 - Winner: Duke Ragnarr
• Stierbach Baronial Birthday 9/21/19 - Winner: Master Torse
• The Wild Hunt 10/12/19 - Winner: Lord Armand
• War of the Wings 10/19/19 - Winner: Master Dominyk
• Dun Carraig Baronial Birthday 11/9/19 - Winner: Lord Ffernfael
• Buckston Birthday 11/9/19 - Winner: Baron Iskender
• Silver Chalice 11/23/19 - Winner: Lord Mathias
• Yule Toy Tourney 12/14/19 - Winner: Lord Tiberius
• Tourney of Mannanan mac Lir 1/25/19 - Winner: Don Julien
• Bright Hills Baronial Birthday 2/8/20 - Winner: Master Cailin
• Nottinghill Coill Baronial Birthday 2/15/20 - Winner: Don Julien
• Ymir 45 2/22/20 - Winner: Lord Humfrey
• Raven’s Cove Baronial Birthday 3/14/20 - Winner: m’Lord Christopher of Ravens Cove