Dear Silver Pilots

[roncli]

I know, it's been a long time since we were together. You may think that back in September that I just up and left you, that I abandoned you. But you see, it's not you, it's me.

I was not good enough for you. I am just a man, and man has many flaws. I needed to spend time away from you, because I needed to become a better person, to show you that I deserved to be with you.

I have cleaned myself up. I worked hard on this, and at times it was difficult. I thought about going back to my old ways, but knew that the only way to get better was to keep striving... not for perfection, but for improvement.

So today I stand before you, ready to be with you once more. But I know that you'll want me to prove that I am a better person, so I only ask you these simple things.

Do not be gentle with me. Never again do I want to take for granted what it means to be with you, and if I should stray upon my path of improvement, do not be kind.

Know that I will do everything in my power to be with you. I have learned much in the past 4 months, and I have many ways to show you just how much I deserve to be with you again.

Do not shy away from this. I nearly lost you once before, and I will not stand to see you slip away again when we are oh so close. Only together can we rebuild this bridge, rekindle our relationship, and make right the wrongs of the past.

Do this not for you. Do this not for me.

Do this for us.

Yours in love,
-roncli

P.S.: Except for you, Hank. Get F***'d.

[melvin]

haha

[Mark392]

I just roflcoptored outta the building. Fo rizzle!

[Rooster61]

Dear Roncli,

Hurry up and get your ass into silver. You have held onto the trophies long enough.

Sincerely,
Everyone in Bronze

[Drakona]

And wuv . . . twu wuv . . . wiw fowwow you . . . fowevah . . .

Who's hank?

[Mark392]

Lolz @Drak! Well played!

[PFunk]

We'll play soon roncli!

[roncli]

[roncli]

Pre-series evaluation - I wrote this up PRIOR to playing my games. I post this because it should give a little bit of insight into what was going through my head going into those games, and give an idea on how seriously I took these challenges.

JAPAN

Ernie restarted Descent around the time I did, and we were fairly evenly matched before he found his old pace and took off for mid to upper silver. The guy who's Turning Japanese - I really think so - could be mid-gold by now if it weren't for one fatal flaw: His tendency to break in the middle of DCL matches. It can be a lossy connection causing vulcan to miss. It can be variant ping changing his lead times. It can be homers tracking when he feels they shouldn't. Any one of these games can turn the game on its head EVEN WHEN HE HAS THE LEAD. And his breakdowns are not him just ceasing to try in the game, it's him suiciding the lead away.

In recent months, he's curbed that habit to great success, earning himself a gold challenge offer, and as a result he is my most difficult challenge in the series. Expect something close to 20-10 but only if the level favors me... If Vamped or Athena comes up, this could very easily result in a big negative score.

Dravis

I haven't played Dravis much, but what I have learned of him tells me that he is a highly charged player that enjoys Descent, but not necessarily the 1v1 aspect of the game. The mastermind behind PTMC is deadly in Anarchy and Team Anarchy, and has pinpoint accuracy with vulcan, making him dangerous to engage in a dogfight. This is dangerous to me because I like dogfights.

The target score is 15, which would be fair, except RNGesus has decided to shine down on me with the pick of Crimson, a level that Dravis has never played in a DCL, and one that I have become particularly strong in, even if I have a fond disliking of the level. While a win is possible here, expect Dravis to pick up on my shenanigans early and keep this one close down to the wire, around +2 or +3.

Kaiyena

Initially, I will admit I was afraid to play Kai. I kind of had this image of a strong silver pilot who was sneaky, almost always behind you, and would punish you for having even the slightest faults in your movement patterns. While Mr. Quad Megas demonstrated this fierce ability many times in our first match, I found myself comfortable in countering it in an overtime loss in Flea.

Normally, I would feel that this game is winnable, but when RNGesus giveth, RNGesus taketh away. Vamped is a level I am weak in, and Kaiyena's patient and sneaky style will play to his advantage in this one. Expect me to struggle to play his game, but still manage to keep on my toes enough to stay in the series. Look for around -2 to -3.

melvin

The only pilot in the series with whom I had the privledge of playing at the Denver LAN this past summer, top silver has had spats of inconsistency over the course of his time with the DCL. Unfortunately, the Early 2016 season has not been one of those spats. melvin is playing a strong game in 2016, beating the likes of Cyrus, Morfod, and JAPAN.

Part of me feels that this could be a tough game, except I remember our first match when the roles were reversed. A silver, keyboard-only roncli vs a bronze melvin in June Bug, a perennial favorite of mine, where I came away with a 20-13, H8 train-filled win. (Side story: I really had to "go" in about 3 points into this match. When he started suiciding, I was really getting worried! Thankfully the H8 train wasn't that long.) This could easily be a game where I fall off the horse and post a single-digit stinker, or it could be a breakthrough where I keep the game close, or even pull away with a win. I just don't know, and won't until we actually play the game. This is truly the wildcard of the series.

Entropy

It has been a long time since I played Entropy, but do remember that his biggest asset was his head game. Since we have played, Entropy increased his level selection into bizarre levels such as Umbriel and Zenith. (Spoiler alert: we're using the random button.) Entropy also brings in his Smash experience which should make him feel at home in a high pressure game.

The only thing Entropy hasn't increased is his games played, taking weeks off at a time. He's certainly not a rusty pilot, but I would not be surprised to see an edge off of his game that he had at his peak last summer. 14 would have been fair at his peak. Although it depends on the level, I feel I will keep it close enough to earn +1 or +2 in a neutral level.

[roncli]

Post-series evaluation

Kaiyena

I feel like I got away with one here. I had a strong first half, but Kaiyena did an excellent job of reading me, and towards the end of the match not only played a smarter game, but pulled off some insane moves that I could not believe, such as a near point-blank smart blind dodge at the corner of the grated tunnel, which was definitely the highlight moment of the match. 2 suicides from Kai and a reactor death for me was the difference from target in this one.

melvin

In a match that featured top bronze vs. top silver, I rolled Ascend, and could kinda tell in his voice that he wasn't too thrilled with it. However, he went on to dominate early, pulling ahead by as much as 6 to 1. However, I'm no slouch in Ascend, and turned it on big time, steamrolling to a 19 to 17 lead. But melvin is a competitior, and despite me getting to a point where I had a guaranteed +7, he did not let me just walk away with a win. He pulled it back to 19 to 19, and we proceeded to have a deep overtime game. In the end, I got a quick kill on him after a respawn to make it 24 to 23, and after a Warlord timeout - his second of the game - we battled until I got the final kill, winning 25 to 23. Melvin got a lot of crap after the game, as for one moment, the top bronze pilot on the ladder was ranked higher than the top silver pilot. A hard-earned +7, and the fact that it was still a highly competitive game after the challenge's result was assured was an awesome bonus.

Entropy

Next up was Entropy, who rolled Mindtrix. Unlike melvin, Entropy was quite pleased with this level selection. Fortunately, I have an affinity to Mindtrix as well, and was prepared for a fast-paced, fun game. Entropy uses the tunnel FAR more than most pilots I've played in there, and I was fortunate enough to make him pay for using them a few times. This game was insanely fun as expected, but I was a little too prophetic in its conclusion... At 17-17, I noted that we were both dying in the energy center and said it was becoming a graveyard or some such. I went on to die twice more there, and then he got a good last kill to pull off the win and obtain top silver. A margin of 3 plus 3 suicides, two of them mine, gave +4.

Dravis

This game was one of those feel bad, sorry-not-sorry moments. We rolled Crimson, a map that Dravis not only went into blind, but a map that I'm kinda decent in, having a bus driver over Lady Silver and a dark horse over PFunk in the level. I kinda thought that Dravis would figure me out at some point in the match, but it never happened, as fusion and homers led to a big upset win and another +7. Dravis, consider me owing you a revenge match for that game in a level of your choice!

JAPAN

With the series already clinched, I told JAPAN that we could play wherever he wanted. Instead, he rolled Fuzed and chose that, but we decided to spice it up and play X5! The smarts were flying all over the place, and I did some dodges on mouse I don't think I could have pulled off even a month ago. I do feel he played me kind of soft at times, but towards the end he put the foot on the gas and did not let up. It was 18-10 at one point, but I managed to get 4 more out of it before ending the game, giving me a +4 for the match and a +23 for the series.

Thanks to EVERYONE who played, and I look forward to playing some more great matches soon. It's good to be back!