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2018 Lore Tournament - 13th December: The Dreaming Pool vs The Curator's Gambit

LordRedStone Nr1·12/13/2018, 4:25:35 PM·15 votes·11,239 views
https://i.imgur.com/5M8hku5.jpg

Hey everyone, I am back with another Lore Tournament post! Yesterday's post got fewer votes than the ones before, which I expected, given that I am not a Rioter. The post will stay up for some time before I announce a winner, even though it seems clear which story will take it ;) I can not lock posts, so voting is going to stay enabled, but they will not count after the deadline. I also want to thank everyone who voted and helped, we can keep this Tournament alive.

[EDIT]: We also discovered that somehow, the story "A Different Hunger" got lost. To fit it in, we had to change the bracket. It will compete on the 20th against the winner from yesterdays post (Stains on a Name).

So as a reminder, here are all previous posts and the plan for the next days:

6th December: Frozen Hearts vs An Explorer's Journey 7th December: The Black Powder Plot vs Human Blood 8th December: The Girl Who Came Back vs At the Edge of the World 9th December: Leaving Weh'Le vs Art is Life 10th December: The Cage vs The Shadow Door 11th December: Stone Cold vs Hunter of Shadows 12th December: Stains on a Name vs The Monster of Kalduga Outpost 13th December: The Dreaming Pool vs The Curator's Gambit 14th December: Then, Teeth vs Frozen Hearts (winner from 6th December) 15th December: The True and Ghastly Tale of the Beast of Boleham Tower vs The Black Powder Plot (winner from 7th December) 16th December: The Principles of Strength vs At the Edge of the World (winner from 8th December) 17th December: Confessions of a Broken Blade vs Art is Life (winner from 9th December) 18th December: A Different Hunger vs The Cage (winner from 10th December) 19th December: Twilight of the Gods vs Stone Cold (winner from 11th December) 20th December: The Eye in the Abyss vs Stains on a Name (winner from 12th December) 21st December: Where Icathia once stood vs The Dreaming Pool (winner from 13th of December) 22nd December: From the Ashes vs Frozen Hearts (winner from 14th December) 23rd December: Whom does the Desert know? vs <winner from 15th December> 24th December: QUARTER FINAL: <winner from 16th December> vs <winner from 17th December> 25th December: QUARTER FINAL: <winner from 18th December> vs <winner from 19th December> 26th December: QUARTER FINAL: <winner from 20th December> vs <winner from 21st December> 27th December: QUARTER FINAL: <winner from 22nd December> vs <winner from 23rd December> 28th December: SEMI-FINAL: <winner from 24th December> vs <winner from 25th December> 29th December: SEMI-FINAL: <winner from 26th December> vs <winner from 27th December> 30th December: FINAL: <winner from 28th December> vs <winner from 29th December>

It's voting time again! #2018 Lore Tournament: Day 8

After yesterdays stories featured death, sorrow, and slaughter, today's stories tell us more about the ancient artifacts and ruins of Runeterra. Both involve double-crossing, but one is about a cruel monster killing innocents for fun, while the other features Syndra.

[sg-ezreal] [sg-syndra] Jokes aside, I just realized that they do share an alternate universe, maybe this was intentional?

The Dreaming Pool by Anthony Reynolds This piece takes us to a small island in the west of Ionia, where Sirik and Okin lead a small group of Ionians into the fortress of Fae'lor, taken from them by Noxians. They make their way through this old fortress and are confronted by Kalan, a Vastaya. They struggle for control, but in the dark lie things far older than all of them...

#vs The Curator's Gambit by Matthew Dunn Ezreal once again returns from an adventure to meet with his old friend Januk. Well, maybe not friend. More like principal, sometimes. And partner in crime. This should have been an easy job, but when you're Ezreal, nothing goes your way for long.

[EDIT] And voting is finished! With an overwhelming majority of 52 to 10 votes, The Dreaming Pool wins and moves on to stand its ground against "Where Icathia once stood" on the 21st.

37 Comments

Malicious Metal12/13/2018, 4:42:03 PM4 votes

Only one story mentions the Dreadlord, so....

Cetri12/13/2018, 7:03:31 PM3 votes

Hey wait a second

Shouldn't "A Different Hunger" be on the bracket somewhere?

Camille Ferrøs12/13/2018, 5:24:20 PM2 votes

Still cant vote... OmegaLUL*[sg-miss-fortune]*

Fishing Boat12/13/2018, 10:29:22 PM2 votes

The score so far doesn't leave much doubt that dreaming pool was much more impactful and intense, but I do think that Curator's Gambit was a decent story. I think that it suffers from a lack of setup and some arbitrary elements, like ok now your employer is an outright cultist out of nowhere etc, but I think that this story showcased Ezreal's cautious and confident mentality much better than his journal story where he just like trips through some important ruins and jokingly recounts how he wrecked the place. TLDR: I enjoyed the curator's gambit, but dreaming pool was extremely cohesive and portrayed a devastating amount of Syndra's mentality and power, while doing some serious worldbuilding around the various anti-noxus factions in Ionia

Falrein12/13/2018, 8:12:29 PM1 votes

I've been waiting for that one. Syndra story all the way down. I've read the Dreaming Pool so many times. I've found some interesting clues as to what Syndra's future might be. Aaaaand Syndra's my favorite champ. 100% bias.

EdgeLady12/13/2018, 10:17:27 PM1 votes

{quoted}

I don't think we would miss anything, but you would be pushing "Confessions of a Broken Blade" and "Frozen Hearts" ( + "An Explorer's Journey", although that one is already out) one step back, making it harder to win for them. Of course, we have to push something back because we want to add a story, but then it should be "The Principles of Strength", "Where Icathia once stood", "Whom does the Desert know" or "From the Ashes". (Right side of the bracket, these did not get contested in the first round). I did not want it to go up against another Icathia/Void story, so the options would be Principles or From the Ashes, and I chose Principles because Noxus is already winning hard so far.

Hmmm I getcha...I tried switching around the whole schedule here! This way, we'll have at least one new story competing every day. I think no matter what, Frozen Hearts is a bit less likely to win (and with this schedule, The Black Powder Plot is too), just because there are so many stories to go through. But how does this one look?

6th December: Frozen Hearts vs An Explorer's Journey 7th December: The Black Powder Plot vs Human Blood 8th December: The Girl Who Came Back vs At the Edge of the World 9th December: Leaving Weh'Le vs Art is Life 10th December: The Cage vs The Shadow Door 11th December: Stone Cold vs Hunter of Shadows 12th December: Stains on a Name vs The Monster of Kalduga Outpost 13th December: The Dreaming Pool vs The Curator's Gambit (this one is pretty much already decided so might as well label it lol) 14th December: Then, Teeth vs Frozen Hearts (winner from 6th December) 15th December: The True and Ghastly Tale of the Beast of Boleham Tower vs The Black Powder Plot (winner from 7th December) 16th December: The Principles of Strength vs At the Edge of the World (winner from 8th December) 17th December: Confessions of a Broken Blade vs Art is Life (winner from 9th December) 18th December: A Different Hunger vs The Cage (winner from 10th December) 19th December: Twilight of the Gods vs Stone Cold (winner from 11th December) 20th December: The Eye in the Abyss vs Stains on a Name (winner from 12th December) 21st December: Where Icathia Once Stood vs The Dreaming Pool (winner from 13th of December) 22nd December: From the Ashes vs <winner from 14th December> 23rd December: Whom Does the Desert Know? vs <winner from 15th December> 24th December: QUARTER FINAL: <winner from 16th December> vs <winner from 17th December> 25th December: QUARTER FINAL: <winner from 18th December> vs <winner from 19th December> 26th December: QUARTER FINAL: <winner from 20th December> vs <winner from 21st December> 27th December: QUARTER FINAL: <winner from 22nd December> vs <winner from 23rd December> 28th December: SEMI-FINAL: <winner from 24th December> vs <winner from 25th December> 29th December: SEMI-FINAL: <winner from 26th December> vs <winner from 27th December> 30th December: FINAL: <winner from 28th December> vs <winner from 29th December>

Fishing Boat12/13/2018, 11:03:12 PM1 votes

Thanks a ton for restarting this! Guys, don't forget to upvote the main post to increase its visibility!

NotaRobot100612/14/2018, 1:39:18 AM1 votes

The Dreaming Pool made me want to fistfight the Spirit of Ionia for punishing an extremely young woman for fighting back but letting everyone who hurt her get off scot-free.

But that means it had an impact on me, and I barely remembered the Ezreal one, so Dreaming Pool it is.

RyzeTheSmurfMage12/13/2018, 5:37:44 PM1 votes

Caith where you at. Ik you there somewhere

EdgeLady12/13/2018, 6:56:23 PM1 votes

Syndra's story is long, but really interesting, and it does keep faithful to her original character while also updating her for the retconned lore, so I appreciate its accomplishment (although I still think more needs to be explored about what she's going to do now).

Ezreal's story is fine and all, but I prefer stories that dive even deeper into the character. This one seems like a nice little side story in comparison to Syndra's.

By the way, you might wanna confirm the results of yesterday's contest: Stains on a Name won big time.

HonestJohnTheCon12/13/2018, 8:06:00 PM1 votes

Vastly outnumbered here, but I really liked the Curator's Gambit and I didn't really understand the Dreaming Pool all that much. Matter of preference more than anything else.

Dreaming Pool is probably better from an objective standpoint, though.