Ultimate OOTS Book Tournament 2: Match 14

[137beth]

Greetings to all people of the Playground, and welcome to
The Ultimate Order of the Stick Book Tournament II!


Back in 2014, I ran (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?339639-The-Ultimate-Order-of-the-Stick-Book-Tournament-Round-1) a series of polls to determine the forum's favorite OOTS book. Start of Darkness won that tournament (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?362708-The-Ultimate-Order-of-the-Stick-Book-Tournament-THE-FINALS!), defeating Blood Runs in the Family by one vote. Since that time, the number of available books has increased, and the readership has had more time to reflect on earlier stories in light of more recent events. Hence, I felt it was time for another tournament. Without further ado, I present

The Contestants

Start of Darkness
War and XP
Don't Split the Party
Blood Runs in the Family
Good Deeds Gone Unpunished
Utterly Dwarfed


Dungeon Crawling Fools
On the Origins of the PCs
No Cure for the Paladin Blues
Snips, Snails and Dragon Tails
Haleo & Julelan + Uncivil Servant


I have grouped together the two stories which are currently digital-only. The 11 contestants will compete in a double elimination tournament, with your votes deciding who wins each match. The winner of the entire tournament will be crowned Grand Champion of the Stick!

Due to the fact that there are more than 8 but fewer than 16 contestants, five books will get a free pass on the first round. The contestants were seeded randomly. You can see the entire tournament bracket on Challonge (https://challonge.com/9vr5zli0).

Vote once in each match by posting your vote in this thread. Voting for this match will close Saturday, March 14, at which time I will post the next match. I will vote only in the case where a tie-breaking vote is needed. Please put your votes in bold, since it makes it easier for me when tallying them.

Now that half of the matches for this tournament are complete, we will be doing only one match at a time for the remainder of the tournament.


The Current Match

Match 14: Blood Runs in the Family vs War and XP

[Schroeswald]

Blood Runs in the Family, this is gonna be a sweep.

[Peelee]

Blood Runs in the Family, this is gonna be a mop.

[ByzantiumBhuka]

Blood Runs in the Family, this is gonna be a broom.

[CriticalFailure]

I actually find this a tough choice, I like both for different reasons.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

This one is also definitely Blood Runs on the Family for me. Although I do really enjoy W&XPs, to me it's just not quite on the same level that a lot of the later writing is on.

[pluizig]

BRITF, easy

[rgrekejin]

Blood Runs in the Family did have some great moments, but I found the handling of Girard's gate to be kind of anticlimatic, and as awesome a villain as Tarquin was at first, he really started to grate on my nerves after a while. In contrast, War and XPs is the best of the compilation books. It has no obvious weakpoints, the Battle of Azure City is the coolest sequence in the comic to date, and it contains my personal favorite page in all of OotS, "Land of the Rising..." Man, it was so cool reading that page when it first went live. I don't know how many of you have been reading long enough to have been here when the Battle of Azure City was live, and the outcome was still very much in the balance with each new update, but it was an absolute rush. Only the Darth V arc has compared to it since, in terms of gripping, gotta-know-what-happens-next drama.

[KorvinStarmast]

Match 14: Blood Runs in the Family vs War and XP
A very close call.
War and XP.

A critical value of this book was that Roy died.
Rich was willing to kill off a major - heck the major - PC to tell the story.
The wizard (V) ran out of spells ... and then ... what? War doesn't care about your "level appropriate challenge" ...
The soldiers losing their morale because the nobles were not All In for the battle.
Soon's phantom paladins owning Xykon ... until Miko screws it up due to being Miko.
Redcloak having that moment of clarity in re hob goblins.
Belkar's Sexy Shoeless God of War moment.
MiTD's earthquake.
Elan's song tribute to Roy.
Also, "the good guys don't always win" was presented in an effective and credible manner.

BRiTF was very enjoyable, but War and XP was really, really good.

[Vulkos]

Blood runs in the family

[Ruck]

Blood Runs in the Family. This is going to be a zamboni.

(I do think War and XPs is excellent, and it was the Battle of Azure City that first got me hooked on the strip. But, damn, Blood has so many powerful moments both triumphant and devastating.

[Bedinsis]

I never cared for Tarquin. I found Miko compelling.

War & XPs it is.

[LadyEowyn]

This one’s pretty close for me. Both of them had great moments from Redcloak (War & XPs was the one that really established him as a character, and BRITF had Gobbotopia, which was one of my favourite bits of the story).

Both the Elan-Haley arc and the War arc in War & XPs are fantastic. BRITF felt somewhat longer than it needed to be, but I loved V’s arc and Elan’s arc was excellent as well and everything was generally somewhat more polished than in War & XPs.

So I think I haven’t decided yet.

[Bloodfeast]

W&XP
I follow OOTS since the order was still in dorukan's dungeon and this epic battle was (imho) the greatest time reading the strips online. Now as a book the pace is different but still brilliant. As Rich Burlew writes in the preface it was a huge effort to plan the battle and to know where each one would be in the different stages and how to transport all this information to the readers.
My favourite page is 422. Each time I read it, I find new details about the symmetry, and you can read it from left to right over both pages.
Greatest moment is 428 when Xycon on zombie dragon appear. Coolest page of course the sexy shoeless god of war. And Roy's loooooooooooong downfall...

I know, BRitF has great story, great moments (belkster on bloodfeast), but my heart is not so much into it.

[Linneris]

Blood Runs in the Family, easily. It seemed like just the right mix of everything that makes OOTS great: drama, comedy, action, character development. Lots of genuinely well-done plot twists, and Tarquin and Malack are some of the best antagonists Rich has come up with.

[Laurana]

I love War and XP, but BRitF probably is my favorite book.

I vote [b]for Blood Runs in the Family[\b].

[137beth]

And voting is closed!

The results:
Blood Runs in the Family vs War and XP (9-4)
The next match is up in a new thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?608625-Ultimate-OOTS-Book-Tournament-2-Match-15).