Volume 1, Issue 7 - Turn 355

Hello and welcome to the Turn 355 Edition of the Gazette!

Blood Pit...the final frontier. These are the pages of the Pit Gazette. Our five year mission...to explore favored strategies, to provide coverage of new warriors and new managers, to boldly go where no periodical has ever gone before.

Welcome to the seventh issue of the Pit Gazette, this turn bolstered by not one but TWO complete columns contributed by staffers not named The Gazetteer. We welcome back from our previous issue Senior Alliance Analyst Raul Anjinarikar Siv and also welcome to the fold The Gazette's new Senior Blood Challenges Correspondent, Cliff Banana. We hope the Cliff Banana BC Roundup becomes a centerpiece of each issue moving forward.

And now...our issue of fun and carnage.


FEATURED ARTICLE – A MANAGER’S APOCALYPSE
Of the many managers who entered Veteran’s Blade as a wave nearly two years ago, it is possible that none have managed more warriors to the 50-Fight mark and beyond more quickly and with such solid records as Fusion. A member of the anachronistic alliance GAPPDA, at the beginning of Turn 355 Fusion had a crop of warriors above 50 fights that arguably rivaled any other manager’s proto-100 Fight warriors, let alone those of the managers who entered the game around him.

12 warriors in Fusion’s stable were members of the Veteran’s Blade’s population of 50+ warriors as of turn 355. Several are or were approaching 90 fights. Taken together, it is the opinion of The Gazetteer that I See BM (48-37-1), Fallout (41-19-2), Elmo (55-31-4), Pickle (36-17-3), Tubor (60-22-1), Mal (44-27-3), Arseface (40-17-1), Flam (46-26-0), Mammy (56-26-3), Mud (41-12-3), Frost (45-35-4), and Hob (38-18-2) accounted for a larger population of solid 100+ potentials than any non-team-fight manager could claim at this time. By the end of Turn 355, however, nearly half of these warriors were to be dead. Amidst the piles of the deceased generated in this second Undefeated Warrior turn (somehow even bloodier than week 1) were I See BM, Elmo, Arseface, Flam and Hob.

Has any manager ever sustained a loss of 5 such veteran warriors in a turn? Certainly some have lost one or two perhaps even more distinguished warriors in a single turn, but the loss of such a volume of solid warriors has certainly not occurred while The Gazette has been in operation.

Fusion was kind enough to grant an interview request to the Gazette, and our reporter met with him early in the week while he auditioned seven new replacements for his stable (two more of Fusion’s less celebrated warriors also died in 355, one though by Monster).

Still reeling somewhat from the turn, but cautiously optimistic, Fusion shared with us his thoughts on the departed and his plans for recovery.

On I See BM: “He was a bit sickly when he joined us, but based on a transcript of a lecture given by the Duke many years ago, there were hints of possible martial combat greatness in his build. Unfortunately, at the time I thought that training him to be an exclusively open hand fighter would be more viable than it actually was. He was a good fighter, always solid, but never truly impressive.”

I See BM expired of an apparent heart attack after parrying a mighty blow by Valcor Aurthor’s Wreckless.

On Elmo: “He was a real favorite of mine. While not much of a student, he was my first big Orc and he always tried hard. He was really trying to expand his capabilities (my only fighter with 7 trains in an area) and he will be remembered fondly. I have a dilemma around the Blood Challenge for his death. Do I blow Tuber's chances in the UW contest? That Dwarf was fonder of his big buddy than he likes to admit, but I haven't many prospects otherwise for revenge.”

Elmo was killed by The Rage to Overcome on his own 100th Fight Day (more on that later). Commenting in after action, Sleazee P. Martinee noted, “Actually, I was sorry to see Elmo go. As many know I'm a huge supporter of orcish gladiators. However, he stood between Rawg and the Top 25 Half-Orc's List.”

On Arseface: “Well he was ugly as sin, but wore it well. You could never understand a word he said because he didn't have any teeth and his beard seemed to envelope his head, but he was always cheerful. Unfortunately he was a little too attached to the parry and counter school which just isn't a good idea against a Great Pick in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.”

Arseface was killed by Black Foxx’s Replacment Killer, who commented separately, laughing, “I’d seen Arseface around. He had a good record, but from the damage I saw, it musta been a fluke. Probably padded his record with team fights.”

On Flam: “One of my first Halflings. He was a pure joy to watch from day one. I didn't know anything about the little buggers and basically made a whole team of 'em, threw a smattering of weapons at 'em and Flam and his boar spear were one of the two that really worked well. He was decapitated by a thrown knife.”

Flam was killed by GAPPDA-mate Poppa Balrog’s Erhley, who commented separately, “It was totally Fusion’s fault. His medical staff’s idea of treatment for a neck injury probably shouldn’t have stopped at duct tape.”

On Hob: “My first try with a more classic Halfling fighter, he was a lot faster than most of my fighters and loved the short sword. He mastered it quickly without seriously neglecting his other training and was a good, well-balanced fighter. Like Flam, he was killed in a match with one of my alliance mates. It was a mighty blow that started at his shoulder and ended somewhere in the vicinity of his left ankle.”

Hob was killed by GAPPDA-mate Cliff Banana’s Flerk.

As our interview concluded, Fusion briefly pulled us aside to talk about the sub-50 warrior that had died in 355, Maelstrom, who expired at the hands of Ted Supreme’s Un Ananas: “He was one of the best athletes I've had a chance to work with, but damned if he didn't have rocks in his head. I really should have cut his agility and strength training short to shore up his weaknesses, but I was blinded by the potential I saw. He lost his last 11 fights, but I was just so sure he was about to turn the corner. His loss is felt as deeply as the others.”

Fusion summed up for us: “Only 7 warriors left over 50 fights and the 3 over 80 are starting to look at the 100-fight mark as farther away than it seemed last turn. Or maybe it's just me; these fighters are always toasting to "Death or Glory!". I on the other hand have a marked preference for the latter!”

Asked where his stable goes from here, while finalizing the recruitment of his new warriors for Turn 356, Fusion paused. “Well, I chose these guys while angry. There’s going to be some blood and fury. I may drown myself. Last time I tried I grew gills, though. Very sad.”

With that, our reporter took his leave of Fusion’s premises and the interview was at an end. The Gazette wishes good tidings in 356 for his stable. Enduring a turn like 355 must result in a huge amount of positive karma, after all.



FEATURED ARTICLE - UNDEFEATED WARRIOR ALLIANCE ANALYSIS
Peace be with you, my friends. Once again it is I, Raul Anjinarikar Siv, your most unworthy informant, bringing you another edition of my distinguished Alliance report. In this land of intrigue and mystery, you, my readers, can count on Raul to provide you with the upside-down road map to this complicated world of master managers.

Once again we turn the Eye of the Seer on the Undefeated Warrior contest and its second round, full of surprises unexpected by both the odds makers and the almighty Raul. The favored alliance of the bookmakers and of the Padishah is still in the lead with 66 remaining warriors. Of course, I talk of the Lords of Darkness; however this normally unaware and unobservant bystander cannot help but note (with a great deal of discomfort) that this represents a loss of nearly half of the 119 warriors they had after round one. My only solace is that the remaining warriors represent some of the fiercest specimens of the, um, well collectively I’m not sure what you all call yourselves, but whatever it is, they are the fiercest. Like a tiger, or a bear, or the small dog of a princess. You get the idea.

Coming in with a slightly better attrition rate was GAPPDA, with 56 warriors remaining in the contest between them. Apparently one member of their alliance, the infamous and much-feared Fusion, suffered many crippling deaths to his stable yet somehow held onto 9 contestants in the running. With the exception of Hoffa who was unable to field his choice of warriors <chuckle>, the remaining managers in GAPPDA all have 10 or more contestants left. My hat is off to you, may you drink victory deeply someday as a dying, straggling, worthless cheat would drink after crawling through the desert on a thousand shards of broken glass.

The other alliances have all now fallen below the 30-warrior mark, though I am not surprised by this as they have not fattened themselves up with members like a feasting buffalo in spring heat. The No Bozo Squad, to choose an example, has 28 warriors left, with Ffunker fielding 13 of that number by himself. This benign spectator can not help but notice how impressive the rise of that particular member of the NBS has been. But what will happen when the hashish supply is cut off to his top performers? Withdrawal will not be pretty, but such is business. DIE saw the elimination of 12 warriors and now holds 20 strong contestants, though it is rumored that they suffer the permanent Blood Challenge disadvantage because of the bodies they refuse to stop supplying to the local mortuary. My master bids you to continue your murderous ways lest I see the sands of the Veteran’s Blade myself. And lastly FoF suffered heavy losses this turn and holds only 13 contestants. I can only hope they will take their frustration out on others, and I’m sure they know of whom I refer.

Lastly, I will take it upon myself to lump all the ‘lone wolf’ types, the managers that either have no friends or are so pungent that none will coordinate with them, into one large festering group so that we can see how their ‘odds’ of winning this UW compare to those less smelly. This turn finds 5 unaligned managers among the front-runners, those being Caesar, Drakus, Dux Mortalitas, The Overlord, and T-mote (I asked myself, who is this person, where did they come from, and did they not know that hyphens are outlawed?). Together these managers total 53 wins, nearly matching GAPPDA. Impressive to be sure, and I’m sure that my pointing this out and the fact that there is money to be shared for a certain preordained outcome, might influence friends of your humble servant Raul to swing things more into balance.

But while most of the alliances are observing a ‘wait and see’ challenge policy to avoid the inevitable cycle of acrimony to come, some intrigue abounded this turn, allowing me to bring to you, at only a small additional charge, interesting information. Like the energy of a fifteen-year-old prince that cannot wait to be unleashed, Xavier of GAPPDA issued forth a premature challenge to Ted Supreme of the NBS, in a filthy attempt at eliminating one of NBS’ less outstanding warriors from the contest. Though I am sure he will hide behind his infamous “challenge list” as the reason of this inexcusable crime, I saw the fight, and I can tell you this, it was like watching an elephant try to stamp out a mouse. Well done Xavier, I admire your cowardice! Perhaps if managing warriors doesn’t pan out I can find you a job in my staff, perhaps as a hookah cleaner?

Ah, look at the sundial. It is nearly a shadow past 3, and I thirst. I go to your local excuse for a drinking establishment to refill my muse. Salaam and good hunting.



THIS TURN'S 100 FIGHT BIRTHDAYS
It was a life or death turn for the warriors experiencing their 100th battle in Turn 355. More accurately, it was a death and death turn, with one warrior passing into the abyss and the other providing payment for the passage of another. The Demon’s Harkess found himself matched with Davron’s Grunyon, who completed back-to-back Undefeated Warrior kills by sending The Harkess to join his forebears among LoD’s honored dead in two minutes of action. Harkess reached the 100 Fight milestone and the end of his career at 48-52-0. Elsewhere it was Sleazee P. Martinee’s The Rage to Overcome taking a life in his 100th fight, killing Fusion’s Elmo in a downchallenge of 36 slots and 14 fights. Congratulations to Rage for reaching his 100th fight with an impressive record of 69-31-6.

Sleazee provided his reasoning behind Rage's challenge to the Gazette after the day's fights were complete: “"When I told The Rage that I was slotting Elmo in as a possible challenge he wasn't too happy. Those big guys can do some real damage when they hit, but luckily for him he didn't have to worry about taking too many of them. With Zurn joining the Monsters, I didn't have any top-ranked orcs. It's been a long time since one of my orcs wasn't on that list. So, I sent challenges to a bunch of the top ranked orcs, but only landed one kill among them. I thought for sure that that kill would've put [Rawg Bloodspatter] on the list. Unfortunately it didn't, so the rest of you top ranked Half-Orcs better be expecting some challenges from my stable next week!"

Half-Orcs in range of Sleazee’s troops beware!


NEXT TURN'S 100 FIGHT BIRTHDAYS
Turn 356 holds in store two more 100-Fight birthdays, though if recent history holds, only one of these warriors will survive the process. Poeg’s Bull approaches the 100 Fight Milestone with a very solid 65-34-5 overall record, while Damion’s Belial, sadly, is guaranteed of meeting, if not eclipsing, the 100 Fight milestone while somewhat underwater, at 45-54-0. The Gazette wishes both warriors good luck in turn 356.


NOTABLE DEATHS
While the Gazette staff was surprised by the deaths of eleven 50+ warriors among all the glorious carnage of Undefeated Warrior’s opening turn, the second turn was quite unexpectedly even more deadly for the veterans of our fair arena and city. Overall fourteen warriors with more than 50 fights experience, and including one of the top warriors of our age, The Demon’s 100+ Win Dwarf Bastion, ended the day’s action in pine boxes.

Elsewhere we have covered six of the fourteen deaths already in some amount of detail (the devastation visited on Fusion’s stable and The Demon’s loss of Harkess on his 100th Fight Day). Thus we move forward to the biggest death of the turn.

Our hope had been to open this section with bonus coverage on the real loss for all fans of Veteran’s Blade, The Demon’s exceptional Dwarf Bastion at the hands of Damion’s own outstanding human, Geryon. Unfortunately, The Demon remained locked in the solitude that seems to be his mortal existence, and our request for information fell on deaf ears.

Looking back 80 turns and relying on public statements by managers in the know, the Gazette can piece together a few things. Bastion was a sub-500 warrior into his 120s, relying nearly solely on Total Kill. In fact, on turn 275, Bastion was 61-63-4, not a very impressive record at all. Over his remaining eighty fights, however, and in a fight range that included no true easy wins, Bastion switched tacks and, in the end, accrued 47 wins against 33 losses across the remainder of his life. The Gazetteer bows his head to The Demon and Bastion. The arena is diminished by his passing.

One other warrior above 100 fights experience was escorted permanently off this mortal coil this turn, The Overlord’s Dwarf, Payne. The fans suffered most in this particular bargain, however, as Payne was demolished in the very first hit of the fight, a throw by Hosehead’s Spoo.

Elsewhere, Scotty Body’s Barbie was killed by Tolome’s Slowpoke and Drachir’s Bugger was slaughtered by Jim the Half-Ogre’s Jupiter 2. None of the managers involved could be reached for comment after the fights. Both Barbie and Bugger were more competent survivors than outstanding warriors (dying at 49-42-0 and 40-34-3).

In his second downchallenge-kill combo of the turn, Sleaze P. Martinee and his Elf Corrupterofthepure fell upon Terminator’s Half-Orc Violence, gaining a point of dishonor for the difference in rankings (and the predetermined 13 fight advantage) and stomping out Violence at 41-18-1.

Commenting in after action, Sleazee noted about recent challenges and this challenge in particular: "First off I just want Terminator to know that my recent challenges are not personal. He just happens to be above me in the Manager Rankings. Anyways, Violence was a good looking Half-Orc that had some potential. I'm just glad the Corrupter was able to put an end to his life before he got really violent."

Rounding out the distinguished dead for turn 355 was Sanguine’s loss of favored Half-Orc Deformography on his challenge down to Marcus’ Brother Blood. Approached after the match, Sanguine had the following to say. “Ironically, I challenged thinking there would be a kill, but on the other side of the armor. Oops. Deform was easily my second-favorite Half-Orc on my current roster. His record was pretty poor for my likes but damn was he solid all around. He held much more long term potential than nearly all the others.”

The remaining two 50+ deaths in 355 are hardly worth mentioning, but we do give thanks to the killers of Adrian’s Prima Ycnan and Panther’s Sheldar for ridding the Veteran’s Blade of such gladiators (dead at 23-41-0 and 23-29-0). Thus we bow our heads to Cliff Banana and Bandit and their warriors Slurm and Blurr for doing the necessary deed and culling the weak. Of course, since Sheldar died on his own challenge, really Blurr just walked into the honor (literally, with a honor bounty coming from the kill).

That’s it for this turn. A moment of silence please for our fourteen (ok, twelve) honored dead who will be greatly missed by friends and fans alike.


CLIFF BANANA'S BC ROUNDUP
The BC front remained relatively quite for a second straight week thanks to Undefeated Warrior VI. While the turn’s BCs lacked in volume, the viciousness of the Pit returned somewhat this week, with some brutal fights and questionable challenges. However, BCers only took 17 out of the 31 fights for the turn, so, we had some warriors accounting very well for themselves and their stables in handling the BC’s coming their way. Additionally, we still have some managers willing to throw their warriors into the fire by making significant up-challenges or challenging with warriors, who, quite frankly, shouldn’t be around any longer. You know who you are.


THE GOOD
As usual, we will start off with the warriors who fought off BCs while at a fight disadvantage (in parentheses). While we did see some high numbers in terms of fight disparity, these fights were closer in the rankings than they look and not nearly as lopsided once records are taken into account. Nonetheless, these warriors have earned their recognition through their fighting prowess on the sands. Many congratulations go to…

Izziboticus’ GROUNDHAWG (45)
Marius’ BOING BOING (37)
Silencer’s THUMP (29)
Caesar Invictus’ ELDARIS (20)
Alphaforce’s POOP NOODLE (18)
Sanguine’s MENDELSON SHAPE (8)
Lord Kelvin’s SO-CRATES (5)
Sanguine’s BURN IN HELL (3)

Special congratulations too…Yopi’s SILENT who BC’d up 405 points in the rankings, and with a 13 fight disadvantage, and claimed victory for his team and his fallen comrade. Good show!

We have three fights which contend for BC Fight Off of the week. Yopi’s SILENT is an obvious contender for reasons noted above. Izziboticus’ GROUNDHAWG is notable for fighting off a challenge with a 108 point ranking disparity and a 45 fight experience disparity. Finally, Marius’ BOING BOING gets points for fighting off a challenge with a 911 point ranking disadvantage and a 37 fight experience disadvantage.

While it was certainly close, the nod this turn goes to GROUNDHAWG!

THE BAD
We had some, hmmm, lapses in judgment on some of the BCs this week as we saw a number of repeat attempts from BCers who had lost the previous turn. Apparently these lessons in humility are tough to learn for the following warriors who repeated a challenge from 354 and lost again.

Adrian’s CHAOS
Xodea the Forbidden One’s I PARTY AT FUNERALS
Edward Teach’s I’M NOT CREATIVE

It was a particularly sad day for CHAOS, who was found planted in the ground after the fight.

However, some of the BC warriors this turn paid a repeat visit to opponents who they had already defeated. Going to the well again, for another win, we had…

Shadowmaster’s GONZER over GY’GAX’s SAAD AHM
Robert Crenshaw’s GEORGE over Xodea the Forbidden One’s HACK SLASH HACK

Finally, we had some trying to return for second helping of yummy wins but found their opponents not as willing to accommodate. Turning the tables on the previous turns victors were…

Silencer’s THUMP over Validian’s ONE HIT BLUNDER
Lord Kelvin’s ERINYS over Terminator’s WHO CARES!
Cliff Banana’s JOKER over Silencer’s TURBO

THE UGLY
We had an increased share of ugly on turn 355, perhaps making up for the somewhat lack of ugliness on turn 354. Stay away from the following warriors if you are a young child with candy or a defenseless small animal as you will certainly be a juicy target in their cross hairs. Risking life and limb to go in these battles were… (fight advantage, ranking advantage in parenthesis)

Terminator’s KRYPTO (49, 1783)
JB Bladeswinger’s KORA LYNN (55, 1716)
Sah’s DEAD SPARKLER (29, 1016)
Ragnarok’s BREMM SPARKFIST (17, 807)
Angel of Death’s DUR ABLEDEATH (20, 772)
Willybilly’s #2 (17, 530)

It is a dead heat between Terminator and JB Bladeswinger for their insidious mis-matchery on turn 355, as both dropped the hammer from over 1700 ranking positions. Somewhere Sleazee is smiling.


HONOR ROUNDUP
In terms of honor accumulation, Turn 355 was something of an odd duck compared to most that have been run while the Gazette has been in operation. While there were several big downwards BCS, as noted in Cliff Banana's BC Roundup, there was very little honor gained during the turn, either by upwards challenging or bounty culling.

For separate managers exploited open BCs to accrue four-point honor gains in turn 355 (Mygdar Le Gnome, Yopi, Stimpy and JB Bladeswinger) with only two other managers taking a shot on upwards BCs of more than 100 ranking slots (Ironman90210 and Adrian rounding out the more restrained attempts at honor farming for two points each).

Honor bounties were in short supply as well, with only six fractional gains for managers and warriors in the kills of Boot Strap Billy's Hogar (.6 gained by D-Man and Ray), Drachir's Bugger (.4 gained by Jim the Half-Ogre and Jupiter 2), Gramps' Bush Dancer (.2 gained by Panther and Kalis), Panther's Sheldar (.2 gained by Bandit and Blurr) and Hosehead's Sput (.2 gained by Sdan and Hephaestus). There was actually one other tiny bounty collected on the turn, but it was dwarfed by the dishonor accrued during the downwards BC that caused it, in the killing of Jaws' Judaism by Angel of Death's Dur Abledeath (with the .1 point bounty accruing against five points of dishonor from the challenge).

The top honor gainer on the turn overall was Stimpy, thanks in large part to his upwards BC on Weeping Willow that gained him the aforementioned four points of honor and also an extra large helping of dead warrior. Following Stimpy (and no surprise here) was Tolome, with six decently shrewd upwards challenges of more than 50 slots, winning half but losing a warrior in the process. Yopi followed in third place on the turn entirely on the merit of his 4 point BC.

On the negative side of the fence, Sleazee P. Martinee found himself out done on the turn (and in second by a mere 2 tenths of a point) thanks to Kora Lynn's 55-fight downchallenge on Shadow Masters 8-fight Francois. Brave show there Mr. Bladeswinger, gaining that elusive thirtieth win for your mediocre warrior. Sleazee P. Martinee follows JB Bladeswinger in second place for the turn with an array of seven downchallenges worth from one to three points of dishonor (though only one sub-.500 warrior this turn, bravo!). Coming in a close third, much like JB due to an ugly downwards BC, was Terminator for his 39-fight downchallenge on Cam's 5-Fight Cam Scotty with Krypto. Also like Kora Lynn, Krypto is a distinct mediocrity in terms of fight record. Anything for a win was ttruly he motto of the top 3 dishonor gainers this turn.

All in all, not the busiest turn on either side of the honor fence. The Gazette imagines things will continue to return to normal as more and more warriors are eliminated from Undefeated Warrior VI.



MANAGER OF THE WEEK
Manager of the Week is an easy call for Turn 355, as Caesar Invictus blew the rest of the pack away (aside from Dux Mortalitas) with his 21-4-0 turn, including only one challenge (though it was something of a cheap challnege, accruing two dishonor for aiming down on the sub-.500 warrior, Sojourn).

Honorable Mention for Turn 355 goes to the aforementioned Dux Mortalitas for his solid 20-5-0 turn with only two challenges (both in the highest level of the arena).


RANDOM NOTES
Two high level warriors have opened their run in Undefeated Warrior VI by killing opponents in both turns: Davron’s Grunyon and Jim the Half-Ogre’s Jupiter 2. The Gazette fears for any warrior who matches them in Turn 356.

Going further, matching up with Jupiter 2 recently has been particularly bad luck. Three turns ago, Odious George gets matched up with JUPITER 2 and then died the next turn. Two turns ago, Harkess matches up with JUPITER 2 and then died this turn. Last turn, Schools Out matches up with JUPITER 2 and is killed. Finally, this turn, Bugger challenges JUPITER 2 and is killed. Moral of the story? Avoid JUPITER 2.

This was the second straight turn that a warrior died on his 100th Fight (Shopslave’s Grinder in 354, The Demon’s Harkess in 355). This does not bode well for Bull and Belial



THIS TURN IN QUOTES
“Call me an butt, but Thingmaker will exact one turn of revenge…and about 6 pounds of flesh in the process. If Marcus cries about it... he gets three.” – Sanguine Savior, discussing the aftermath of Deformography’s death.

"What do I have to lose? My honor is already lower than corpse [expletive deleted]." – Thingmaker on his upcoming BC on Marcus’ Brother Blood

”Orcs and Halflings are good for one thing…worm food!” – Grunyon of Davron’s stable after his second straight Undefeated Warrior kill.



WHISPERS AROUND THE VETERAN'S BLADE
This week our investigative reporting staff dug deeper around the comings and goings of Chaos Lillith and her staff. Our spies spotted her behind Dux's Tavern mid-week speaking to a group of nobles. Sneaking closer (and avoiding the lethal intervention of her bodyguards, our reporter managed to catch several snippets of conversation. It has become apparent that Chaos Lillith is central in a plot to fix certain Undefeated Warrior match ups, though exactly which remain unknown. As part of the plot, Chaos Lillith is extracting 30% of all winnings from bets on the rigged matches. The Gazette expects an official investigation by the Competition Committee to begin soon.

Dux Mortalitas and Poeg had a heated disagreement at Dux's Tavern this week on the merits of current veteran warriors above 150 fights and the old guard from 100 turns or so ago. While it looked like things might come to blows, cooler heads prevailed and both managers are said to be researching their positions in preparation for future Gazette articles and general scholarship.

Is the use of performance-enhancing potions on the rise? One line of thought beginning to gain acceptance among pit fans everywhere is that the greater kill rate in the pit over the first two turns of Undefeated Warrior might be due to more managers bending to the pressure of trying to win a UW crown by cheating. Whoever is running the Little Debbies racket in our fair city is surely making...a killing.


That's if for this week's edition of The Gazette! If you'd like to submit items for a future edition or provide feedback and clarifications, please pm them to my account on pitt.bloodspit.net.

-The Staff at The Pitt Gazette