The ladder was quiet. All the masters, the vast majority of the best players, had retired. Most of the rest had gone inactive. The fierce rivalries had all died down. I didn't even play much anymore -- a lot more off the record than on the ladder.

But this guy . . .

I asked for a warmup game first -- blubird. I'd been doing other things, didn't really have Descent on the mind as much as I used to. My new job keeps my mind busy, and the games I want at the end of the day are casual. I just wanted to remember how the pyro flies in a serious game. And it was a pretty good warmup! Pretty even, he won, fusion gave him a decent edge as it always does against me. :)

The connection had been bursty, though, and so he reset it and asked for another warmup to check that it had settled down. Cool. We do Ascend, it seems smooth, I get to 10 first, and ask for the real game.

"Pick something small to mid-sized", he says.

"Ok, Audacity?" I say. Something different. I like Audacity.

And I'm thinking it's going to be a pretty even match. The warmups were, right?

Wrong.

Audacity is a level that likes Bahamut's style. An arena with short sight lines and nowhere safe to go. And Bahamut brought a level of intensity and trickery I hadn't yet seen, an extra reserve of awesomeness that I couldn't match. Ladder matches are different. That's why we play them.

I tried everything, and none of it worked. My usual in-your-face aggressive style got me fusion hits. I tried missile trickery and got out-tricked. I tried camping and got discovered. I tried stalking and got found. I tried rushing the weps. I tried not rushing the weps. Bahamut had it all covered.

This guy . . .

We have a lot of even games. He's one of my very favorite pilots to play. But watch out -- in the levels where he's good, he's very, very good.

The match comment is directed at him. In a season of quiet and inactivity, bahamut is still playing, and playing HARD. The dude is far too legit to quit.

I salute that.