Winner by points: MANTICORE! 7 pts, good job.

Sugar High (Space Pirat) vs.
Manticore - Rainforest L 5300 / Works L 6100 / Arena L 4100
Darksim - Parking Lot W 3000 / Works W 1900 / Crest Base W 350
Dragon Knight - Works W 950 / Structure L 2500 / Ruins L 2500
4 points

We were asked not to run Sugar High with the bad boys, but heck with that. It turns out to be a spunky and spiteful little hover. The showing against Manticore is obviously distressing... speedy opponents kill this AC first by evading the orbits, and second by taking the fight to the weapon-arms-and-EOs hover. Having learned his lesson from Manticore, Space played Sugar High by pitching the OC30s at the start of the match with the intention of picking 'em up later on only if need be. Surprisingly, he never needed them.

Darksim spent a lot of time chugging along under clouds of BUD orbits taking brutal damage and unable to maintain any kind of attack on the hover. By the last fight I was ejecting everything but the sawa from the word go, just for the speed necessary to catch the hover for more than a single shot. Even then the Orbit Army kept pace with me while Space ran for the hills.

Dragon Knight had a hard time in round one where I was trying to use the weapons in a balanced way. After that I took to pitching the OC right off the bat and giving Space hell with supported DM volleys. Having no AMS, Sugar High went down in short order... but not before giving me a good scare.

Dragon Knight (1337) vs.
Sugar High - Works L 950 / Structure W 2500 / Ruins W 2500
Darksim - Disposal Site L 2500 / Steeple W 4000 / Rain Forest W DNF (Space quit at 1800 to 8100)
Manticore - Abandoned Fac. L 890* / Resivoir W 1100 / Works W 1000
6 pts... almost the champ!

Dragon Knight had trouble last time, but this version OWNS. Against Sugar High and Manticore I was dropping the OC from the get-go and mostly using missiles. Darksim paid the price for his wieght by enduring the OC's full payload before I dumped it and turned to engage with the missiles and guns.

Space Pirat played his Op-I flight, dekes, and the Disposal Site's layout to perfection against Dragon Knight in round one... but that was all he got. The Steeple is a longtime home for Dragonknight. The faster knight played snipe-and-run with the OC and then set to work with brutal missile volleys whenever Darksim opened fire, playing the reload to prevent reactive decoy deployment. The rainforest match was a debacle with Space totally unable to find my AC thanks to low-fi radar and short lock ranges, while I punished from every angle with decoys, missiles and pulse rifle.

Manticore was a real SOB to deal with, but Dragonknight only lost the first round because of a mid-match redline. Given a do-over, I'm pretty sure this guy would be in the victory thread. With no AMS whatsoever it was easy enough to catch any of Manticore's aggressive moves with a six-missile volley; any time the supports connected, the damage was huge. These battles were exciting and SHORT. With no cover to play, the Resivoir match lasted not even 55 seconds.

Darksim vs.
Sugar High - Parking Lot L 3000 / Works L 1900 / Crest Base L 350
Dragonknight - Disposal Site W 2500 / Steeple L 4000 / Rain Forest L DNF (quit at 1800 to 8100)
Manticore - Abandoned Fac. L 2500 / Arena L 4500 / Steeple L 3500
1 point

Darksim's wieght plays very badly against him. Manticore particularly played on this, forcing the match to very short ranges just for Karasawa to hit. Dark's rise rate left it playing constant catch-up in the air and made it an easy target to track through vertical movements.

In some play after the tournament, Dark kicked Space Pirat's MSGR sawa-blader around a bit. Like Sugar High, Darksim really counts on not being significantly outpaced for his setup to work.

Manticore vs.
Sugarhigh - Rainforest W 5300 / Works W 6100 / Arena W 4100
Dragonknight - Abandoned Fac. W 890* / Resivoir L 1100 / Works L 1000
Darksim - Abandoned Fac. W 2500 / Arena W 4500 / Steeple W 3500
7 points

I thought Manticore was using Intensify as we got started into the matches against Sugarhigh. It's that fast and flies that well. It flew loops around Darksim too, easily assuring victory. Dragonknight's missiles gave the lightwieght some problems though, catching it during flanking maneuvers and range change-ups. The duals tracked and hit with some reliability at midrange. The relations (when they did hit) paid off with tremendous damage compounded by a big overheat. A lucky point won off of the Knight in round one managed to seal things in Manticore's favor. Good job and good luck in the winner's tourney.