Frig Tourney 5-7-10

Wowwee! What a day! Our frig tournament today had a semi-ok turnout, 6 pilots, 12 frigates, one prize.
Our first battle was between Ryu Kage, in a Kestral and Evil Claymore, in a Griffin. They warp to the staging area, shake hands and on command, warp to the battlefield and immediatly lock and start shooting eachother. Evil gets out of his shields, with Ryu's paint barely scratched. Missiles and rockets are flying--but what's this? It seems that Ryu has hit his MWD and gone off grid. And because Ryu is no longer on the battlefield, Evil's one hobgoblin I has gone rogue....and it's going after Rahken! Evil tells his drone to come back and orbit him as Ryu comes back on grid. Both pilots relock and fire. It seems that Evil jams Ryu. What a turn of events....but wait, Evil's cap has run out, and can no longer jam Ryu. Within minutes, Evil is sitting in his pod, Ryu is the winner.
Second Battle was between DeadKnighton in a Kestral and Rahken in a Tristan. They warp into the battlefield, lock and fire. It looks like they both have reppers--DK a shield repper and Rahken an armor repper. Wolf is almost down, and DK has barely any damage when DK goes off grid. He quickly turns around and gets back on the battlefield, relocks and fires upon Rahken. Rahken falls out of armor, out of structure, he cannot rep fast enough, and he ends up in his Pod.
The third battle is between Evil Claymore in a Kestral and Rahken also in a Kestral (it seem a very popular Frigate at this tournament). Like the battles before, they warp in, lock and begin to fire. Rahken's range prevents him from shooting Evil, and doesn't get an effective shot off until he is already in structure, which is far too late. Rahken is eliminated, and flies away in his pod.
Another battle of the Kestrals when DeadKnighton and Ryu Kage head to the battlefield. Ryu gets DK into his armor, and sensor dampens him. With DK not being able to target, he goes down fairly quickly, but not before getting Ryu into 3/4 structure.
The next battle was between myself (Tinkers Bell) in--what else?--a Kestral and Trebit in a Merlin. Both pilots were blasting missiles at the other one, the shields of the ships were a pain to get through, but I got Trebit into armor, with me only in 30% shields remaining. Soon, Trebit was out of a ship and flying in his pod.
The next battle was myself (again, in a Kestral) and Ryu Kage, back in his sensor dampening Kestral. I tried to be smart and put some Friend or Foe missiles in my cargo hold, just in case I got sensor damped to hell. Ryu sensor damped me, and I tried to fire my FoF missiles, but nothing happened. Ryu ate through my shields, armor, and structure. Before I could get one missile even aimed at his ship, I was floating in my pod.
Then came Trebit in a Condor, and DeadKnighton in a Merlin. They both warp, target and fire upon each other. They get eachother down to about half shields when DK starts shield repairing himself. With that repper, Trebit seems to be having some trouble breaking his tank. Trebit ends up in his pod.
The semi finals start with DeadKnighton in a Merlin and Evil Claymore in a Kestral. DK quickly dropped shields, armor and structure and is in his pod. The second semi final battle is between myself and Ryu, both in Kessies. As with the previous match between the two of us, Ryu has me sensor dampened, almost from the beginning, and my FoF missiles don't want to cooperate, so I shortly end up in my pod.
The Finals are between Evil Claymore (in a Kestral and already has one loss) and Ryu Kage (in a Merlin--whoa a change!--who has no losses). In order to win, Ryu must simply kill Evil's Kestral, and for Evil to win he must kill both of Ryu's frigates. The close range Merlin eats away from Evil's shield, armor and structure, and he is in his pod. Ryu Kage is the 1st Frigate Tournament winner! Congrats!!

And what have I learned? FoF missiles cannot hit a target if it is beyond your targeting range. When sensor damped, not only your ship targeting range is gone, but your missile targeting range goes down as well.
Thanks to all of those that participated, and we look forward to seeing more pilots at our next tourney, details will be posted in corp/alliance bulletins. Fly safe guys, and Congratulations Zoe!