Date: June 4, 2005; 2 p.m. EDT (6 p.m. GMT, 7 p.m. BST)
Location: North RSO at the gemcutting event compound East of the UoB along the coast. (2350, 2550)
More information: 2
The goal of the Bladedancer event is to determine who is best at gemcutting in a single event. The event is designed to see who could be most successful with the gem cutting table. It is open to all citizens of Egypt with exception of those players still using their trial account hours.
Details of the Bladedancer event on April 9, 2005 can be found by clicking this link: 1
The gemcutting event will run in rounds. Each round will be 20 minutes long, and involve the cutting of five cuttable gems. The cuttable gems will be supplied and the cuttable type (amethyst, garnet, lapis, turquoise) will be chosen randomly. In each round, the gemcutters must perform a dictated set of 5 gem cuts from the five cuttables given. Marks will be awarded for each successful cut asked for in the round.
The event is expected to last two to four hours depending on the level of participation.
The host will start each round with a cue on a shared channel (guild and/or host channel) after detailing the 5 gem cuts needed for that round and giving each participant the 5 cuttables for that round. The participants, each assigned a gemcutting table, will use the 5 cuttables given to them to carry out the 5 theme cuts for the round. Once each cut is finished, the results must be stored in the chest next to their assigned table. Once all 5 cuts are done (or the gem cutter is finished) he must cue the host who will mark down the time of completion. If the host is not cued to the participants completion, the completion time will be marked as 20 minutes.
At the 20 minute mark to the round, the host will cue the participants in the shared channel that the round is over. The host will then go around and confirm the results for each participant. Any participants' gems on the table showing any movement 5 seconds after the cue signifying the end of the round and before the confirmations of results are complete will be disqualified.
There is a set of gem cuts (i.e. Aidenn Mask, Cat's Eye, Full Eye, Reflection, Bridge, Dragyn's Eye, Ring, Unity, King's Tomb, Lotus, and Tiki Mask) which are included in a bonus group. Competitors can use a gem cut from the bonus group to replace any cut requirement they need in that round. These are the 'wild cards' in the Bladedancer event.
7 marks are awarded for each successful cut. 8 marks are given for each successful bonus group cut. 1 mark for every minute left over in the round after completion.
To advance to the next round, you need to be in the top half in marks awarded to advance to the next round. So, in the semi-finals, you must be in the top 2 of the 4 competing. In the quarter-finals, you must be in the top 4 of the 8 competing. In the first round, you must be in the top 8 of however many participants there are. If the number of participants is greater than 16, there will be qualifying 'heats' to grab the 16 spots for the first round. ((9 to n)->8->4->2->(Bladedancer))
In the case where several players are tied for advancement to the next round, the participants' tie will be broken by who finished fastest among their subgroup.
The 5 gem cuts dictated in each round will be chosen from the following cuts: The choices will be mostly random bowing to inclusivity for all cuts during the event.
Bonus Group (may be used as wildcards to replace any single round requirement:) Aidenn Mask, Cat's Eye, Full Eye, Reflection, Bridge, Dragyn's Eye, Ring, Unity, King's Tomb, Lotus, and Tiki Mask
Why are the rounds so long (20 minutes?)
The gem cutting event is designed with the premise in mind of finding the best gem cutter. Time taken to cut the gems is secondary to a cutter being successful with the cuts. Therefore, the time on the rounds was extended. A very experienced gem cutter should be able to cut 1 gem every 2 minutes (10 minutes for 5 gems.) Experienced cutters may take up to 3 minutes (15 minutes for gems.) For beginners, it may be difficult to cut one or two in this time, but they have the chance.
Why are the rounds so short (20 minutes?)
Although it is stressed that time is not as important as accuracy when determining the best gem cutters, it is important to realize that the event cannot drag on forever. Therefore, the time limit is enforced.
Of the 16 possible gem cuts asked for, some of them are not always in every pre-cut generated gem. Cutting an exact five will require a lot of luck - right?
Granted there is a bit of luck called for. For example, if a Looking Glass was asked for and none showed across all five gems, that player would be out of luck one cut that round. However, in most cases, an experienced gem cutter could hedge the tougher cuts in a round by trying to take care of them early rather than finish each cut in succession and potentially leave a rarer cut for the last gem.
Why the bonus for cutting a cut in the bonus group? Doesn't this affect the results by adding a factor of luck?
A great gem cutter will be able to identify and execute the rarer (and sometimes more useful and sought after) gem cuts before endeavouring to make a cut not in the bonus group. The bonus group is there to foster a tenacious vigil for the more rare cuts. Sure, there is a factor of luck introduced along with the bonus group. However, by lumping all these together in one group, it drastically reduces the luck of pre-cut gem generation. Also, imagine the time it takes to identify these cuts - that extra time may be the deciding factor in a gem cutting showdown.
Why isn't cutting a King's Tomb worth more 'bonus' than a Full Eye?
There is no question that some cuts in the bonus group are much more rare than others. As was described before, the bonus group of cuts is to encourage the identification and execution of the rarer cuts. By giving more bonus to the rarer cuts of that group, the event would suddenly be much more skewed to the random luck of one competitor over another - which is not what we are trying to measure.
Competitors: A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P
Since there are 16 competitors, each is assigned a table for the first round.
Example's theme gem cuts are Bastet, Khufu's Ship, Queen's Tomb, Hexas Plate, and Dalessi
| Participant | Time (min.) | Points | Gems Cut / Notes |
| C | 11 | 44 Advances | Bas, KS, QT, HP, Dal |
| O | 13 | 42 Advances | Bas, KS, QT, HP, Dal |
| K | 15 | 40 Advances | Bas, KS, QT, HP, Dal |
| N | 16 | 40 Advances | Bas, Bonus (Ref), QT, HP, Dal |
| D | 16 | 39 Advances | Bas, KS, QT, HP, Dal |
| B | 17 | 39 Advances | Bas, Bonus (DE), QT, HP, Dal |
| L | 18 | 38 Advances | Bas, KS, Bonus (KT), HP, Dal |
| H | 19 | 38 Advances | Bas, Bonus (Ring), QT, HP, Bonus (AM) |
| F | 20 | 36 | Bas, Bonus (AM), QT, HP, Dal |
| J | 20 | 35 | Bas, KS, QT, HP, Dal |
| M | 0 | 20 | (had to leave) |
| G | 20 | 14 | Bas, QT |
| P | 20 | 14 | Bas, HP |
| A | 20 | 7 | QT |
| E | 20 | 7 | Bas |
| I | 20 | 0 | QT, Dal (disqualified for late cutting) |
Advancement: B,C,D,H,K,L,N,O
Quarter-finals... 8 competitors are assigned their tables and given cuttables for the next round;
the theme cuts are chosen to be: Corner Heart, Dalessi, Hexas Plate, Thistle, and Bastet
| Participant | Time (min.) | Points | Gems Cut / Notes |
| N | 12 | 44 Advances | CH, Bonus (AM), HP, This, Bas |
| L | 16 | 42 Advances | Bonus (Ring), Bonus (FE), HP, Bonus (FE), Bas |
| D | 16 | 41 Advances | Bonus (Brid), Dal, HP, This, Bonus (Ref) |
| C | 14 | 41 Advances | CH, Dal, HP, This, Bas |
| B | 16 | 40 | CH, Dal, Bonus (FE), This, Bas |
| O | 17 | 39 | Bonus (Ring), Dal, HP, This, Bas |
| K | 13 | 35 | Dal, HP, This, Bas |
| H | 20 | 22 | Bonus (FE), This, Bas |
Advancement: C,D,L,N
Semi-Finals... 4 competitors are assigned their tables and given cuttables for the next round;
the theme cuts are chosen to be: Looking Glass, Corner Heart, Khufu's Ship, Eyelet, and Choronzon
| Participant | Time (min.) | Points | Gems Cut / Notes |
| C | 15 | 41 Advances | LG, CH, Bonus (CE), Eye, Chor |
| D | 17 | 41 Advances | LG, CH, Bonus (Ref), Bonus (DE), Bonus (FE) |
| N | 17 | 40 | LG, CH, Bonus (FE), Eye, Bonus (FE) |
| L | 19 | 30 | LG, KS, Eye, Bonus (Unity) |
Advancement: C,D
Finals... final pair are assigned their tables and given cuttables for the final round;
the theme cuts are chosen to be: Appolonia, Symmetry, Lens, Sprocket, and Amanti
| Participant | Time (min.) | Points | Gems Cut / Notes |
| C | 16 | 41 Winner | Bonus (FE), Sym, Lens, Bonus (FE), Aman |
| D | 18 | 38 | Bonus (AM), Sym, Lens, Spr, Aman |
Event Example Winner: C
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