The Enchanted Forest

In this Final Match, the players will each be sending their Power in an attempt to compete for the fabulous treasures contained with 13 castles. However, since the last time you visited the Forest, the castles have changed their order, so don’t expect your return trip to be as simple as the first journey! Magic is a tricky business, and those that do not manage their power perfectly may find themselves defeated by their own hand...

Power

Each player has 260 Power available to them, and, on each of the 13 rounds, will select the amount of Power they wish to bid for the current castle. On the first round, they may bid any amount of Power, but on all subsequent rounds, they must bid more than the previous round, albeit no more than 10 more. So, if a player bids 4 Power in the first round, they must bid at least 5 Power, and at most 14 Power, in the second round. You may never bid more power than you have.

Points

Once both players have selected how much power that they would like to send, it will be announced who won the round, as well as whether the victory was Great or Narrow. A Great victory occurs if the difference between the Power sent by the winner and by the loser is 5 or greater, while a Narrow victory is if the difference is 4 or less. If the players send the same Power, the winner of the previous round will be declared the winner, in a Narrow victory. In the first round, this will be the Aqua, who has more Garnets. There is 1 point available in the first round, 3 points in the second round, 5 points in the third round, etc. In the seventh round, there are 13 points available, and in the eighth round there are 12. Then 10 in the ninth round, 8 in the tenth round, and so on. In the thirteenth round, there are 2 points available. In all rounds except the first and the last, however, if the castle is won Narrowly, then one of the points will be taken by the loser. So, if the second castle is won in a Narrow victory, the winner will score 2, while the loser scores 1. There are a total of 91 points available.

Victory

If, at any point, a player cannot send sufficient Power to follow the rules outlined under the Power subheading, they will immediately forfeit the game. Otherwise, victory is determined thusly: 1. If both players have Power remaining, the player with less Power is declared the winner. 2. If only one player has Power remaining, the player with 0 Power is declared the winner. 3. If neither player has Power remaining, and one player has at least 65 points, the player with fewer points is declared the winner. 4. If neither player has Power remaining, and neither player has obtained 65 points, the player with more points is declared the winner.

Items

There are three Items available in The Enchanted Forest. Two Items are +5 Power. The player who receives this Item will have 5 additional Power at the start of the game. The third Item is Over/Under. The player who receives this Item may use it, and declare an amount of Power. They will be told if their opponent has Over or Under that amount of power, or if they have that exact amount.

Nick and Reef each received a +5 Power Item.

Nick gave his to Aqua.

Reef gave his to Emile, with this message: “Got plenty of respect for Aqua, but I think I admire how Emile operated in this game a little bit more; how he’s the first and most willing to think outside the box and take risks while also having the pure skill needed to bounce back whenever that thinking doesn’t work out how he planned. The individuality to his style of play is something I really enjoyed watching and playing with this season, and I also just worked closer with him slightly more often than I worked with Aqua. With that said, best of luck to you both! No matter how this goes, at least enjoy your final few games here, and make them a good watch from our end too.”

The Over/Under power was unassigned to any player. As a result, Aqua receives it due to having more Garnets than Emile.

THE ENCHANTED FOREST

Spend more power than the opponent to win points. But plan out your spendings, and the gods do not like excessive imbalance.

This game appeared in Bang-A-Rang The Genius I as Death Match 5, hosted by Aaron, Kevin, and Toby.

GAME RULES

⚙️ Setup and terminology

The bout takes place over 13 rounds. In each round, players compete for a castle, worth a number of points: the worth of a castle is equal to the round number. That is, in round 1, the castle is worth 1 point; in round 2, the castle is worth 2 points; and so on until the last castle that is worth 13 points.

Each player starts with 260 power. Power is the currency used to compete for castles.

🧠 In a round

In each round, players bid to spend an amount of power that they have. The amount of power must be a positive integer (in particular, at least 1); in addition, other than the first round, the amount of power must be between 1 and 10 (inclusive) higher than the power spent the previous round. For example, if in round 1 you spend 10 power, in round 2 you must spend between 11 and 20 power. Note that the amount of power bid will be spent, regardless of whether you won or lost.

After both players have decided on an amount of power, the results of the round are revealed: the winner of the round, as well as whether the win was "great" or "narrow". The winner of the round is the player that spends more power. A victory is narrow if the difference of power spent is 4 or less, and great otherwise. The winner of the round receives the points of the castle for the round.

In case of a tie, if there has never been a won round before, it will be announced as such and the points from the castle carry to the next round. Otherwise, the winner of a tied round is the winner of the previous round; in this case, it will not be announced that there has been a tie, it will simply appear as a narrow victory like any other.

💎 Winning

You lose if at any point you fail to submit an amount of power following the rules. (Most often this happens when you don't have enough power left, but this can also happen if you run out of time.) If both players fail to manage their power in the same round, the bout is a tie.

In addition, you are expected to spend all your power. If either player has any power remaining after the end of round 13, the player with less power remaining wins. In case of a tie, the bout is a tie.

If both players spend all their power, look at the points obtained. You want to win but without winning too much.

• If the higher score is 69 or less, the player with more points wins.
• If the higher score is 70 or greater, the player with less points wins.

It's impossible to tie, unless both players tied for the entire match; in this case the bout is a tie.

This game is pretty short. By default you will play best of 3 bouts.

ADMINISTRATION

🏷️ Writing your move

Your move must be the amount of power you wish to spend for the round. It must satisfy the restrictions on power (positive integer, between 1 and 10 higher than the amount you spent the previous round), and it cannot be larger than the amount of power you have left.

👁️ Available information

You should make your moves in your private submission channel.

After each move, it will be announced who won and whether it was a great or narrow victory, or otherwise whether it's an early-game tie. The number of points each player has so far will also be announced. Note that the amount of power spent by each player is not announced. Note also that you need to keep track of the amount of power you have remaining by yourself.

⌛ Timing

You have the standard time controls. You have 90 seconds per move. If you run out of time, you lose the bout.

CLARIFICATIONS

📌 Examples

The following is an example game between Black and White.

For Round 1, Black submits 6 and White submits 6.

The update will be that both players tied, and hence the points will carry to the next round.

For Round 2, Black submits 10 and White submits 12.

The update will be that White gets a narrow victory, and hence claims 2 points, plus 1 point carried from the previous round, for a total of 3 to 0 for White.

For Round 3, Black submits 11 and White submits 16.

The update will be that White gets a great victory, claiming 3 points for a total of 6 to 0 for White.

For Round 4, Black submits 18 and White submits 18.

The update will be that White gets a narrow victory (recall that if tied, the player that won the previous round wins), claiming 4 points for a total of 10 to 0 for White.

For Round 5, Black submits 25 and White submits 19.

The update will be that Black gets a great victory, claiming 5 points for a total of 10 to 5 for White.

For Round 6, Black attempts to submit 40, but this is out of the allowed range. White also attempts to submit 19 again, which is also out of the allowed range. Therefore both players fail to submit and both players lose the bout.

📌 Clarification: Revealing submissions

All submissions are revealed at the end of each bout. (This mimics the original game that does reveal the submissions at the end.)