Realms / Order of the List Invitational 7 by Sayeh

After taking last year off, the Order of the List Tournament returned with renewed vision and some new challenges.

Sixteen individuals have worked hard throughout the year at different tournaments racking up points to decided who is the top fighter in the Realms, and after a long twelve hours of combat, one winner is decided.

The first round of fights took place in two separate rings pitting fighter against fighter, each fight a chance to show off their skill in different weapon skills; Short sword, longsword, sword and shield, sword and marn, florentine (two weapons), even daggers. There were three chances each fight to rack up points for every victory, and a chance to fall behind for every defeat. The battle to make it into the top eight spots before the first cut brought about action from both corners of the field, and spectators watched as the standings changed with each weapon style change.

The second round cuts were made, and the top eight fighters were drawn.

• Vuel
• Seagan
• Ace
• Drike
• Daekara
• Shader
• Theiran - Then Lord Sir Tao
• Torolf

After an injury on the floor in the second round, Sir Theiran took himself out, putting Duke Tao into the top eight standings.

In this round, fighters faced new challenges that involved strategy. Secret new challenges were made, some with names none we had never heard of that required instruction from marshals briefly to explain. A new challenge was named Vuel's Vendetta after he was the victor of the new challenge. These less common forms of combat challenged each fighter until the top 3 fighters were determined.

Then, just when you thought each cut meant it was the end for all the fighters who didn't make it in the first two rounds, comes the wild card.

The wild card tournament was run a little different this year, but it remained true to its roots. All fighters except the top three competed, and for every kill, they gained a point, whoever had the most points in the end, could challenge the person standing in fourth place for the right to compete against the top three.

After a wild ten minutes of stabbing and running, Rillian came out as the victor with 49 victories and won the right to challenge Daekara for the right to fight against the top three. Blackwood's Lord Torolf was close behind him with 46 victories. Rillian proved himself and was able to displace Daekara to challenge the top three, Drike, Seagan, and Vuel.

However, it was not enough in the semi-finals for Rillian as in the end Drike pulled an upset and pulled into the second place position, and Seagan eventually fell into fourth place bringing our final two best fighters of the year to standoff between Drike and Vuel.

The final round between Drike and Vuel was to challenge their stamina, 3 fights, 7 rounds, best of 3 sets of 7 won Order of the list. Both were very evenly matched fighters and most knew that it would all come down to who wanted that championship more. Keep in mind these men had been fighting up until this point for almost eleven hours.

In the end, Vuel was victorious, and Drike was the runner up for the seventh season of Order of the List, but once a victor of Order of the List, you can never compete again. Thus, next year is anyone's game, and could be Drike's chance to claim victory... or anyone else who makes the cut in Order of the List.