Lightspeed returned to Las Vegas in 2023 with a plethora of events and new formats, including two new team formats premiering at the national level for the first time. So let’s talk about Lightspeed Saber team Annihilation and team Skirmish (duet).

ANNIHILATION RESULTS

1. Jo & The Wannas (Jowanna Lewis, Rob Chan, Josh Mas)

2. Lolkatz (Kat Laurange, Tony Zaldua, Steve Perez)

3. Hell’s Kitchen (Shar Carter, Bri MacNeil, Jose Ortiz-Miranda)

SKIRMISH RESULTS

1. Icy Hot Pain Relieving (Josh Mas, Rob Chan)

2. The Perezalduites (Steve Perez, Tony Zaldua)

3. Last Minutes & 41st Battalion (Jowanna Lewis & Preston Pomeroy / Wiliam Alonzo & Jesse Fajardo)

ANNIHILATION

The team competition side of Lightspeed Returns kicked off with the highly anticipated Annihilation format, created by Kevin Fournier of Basin Saber Academy in Klamath Falls, Oregon. In this innovative format, teams of three battled it out one at a time, with the option to tag members in and out between encounters. Instead of winning based on points, victory was determined by annihilating the opposing team. Each fencer started with 8 health points, and being struck caused a fencer to lose health points, emphasizing the importance of scoring cleanly and following good Lightspeed Saber fencing principles.

The Annihilation teams were the Knights of the Basin (Ally Fournier, John Kupitz, Josiah Kupitz), Jo & The Wannas (Jowanna Lewis, Josh Mas, Rob Chan), The Sith Who Say Nee! (John Mullins, Ronan Relosa, Dinah Kolasa), Hell's Kitchen (Jose Ortiz-Miranda, Shar Carter, Bri MacNeil), LOLKatz (Kat Laurange, Tony Zaldua, Steve Perez), Em & The Boiz (Emily Watson, Andre Gonzalez, Hikaru Hayakawa), and The Last Minutes (Chris Stadther, Asher Trask, Rebecca Moore). Each team was required to be coed in order to qualify to compete.

During this double elimination tournament, each team member started with 8 health points. When a team member's health points reached zero, they were eliminated from play but could still contribute during huddles and as line coaches. However, any member could be revived when a teammate landed a counterattack, which automatically restored 1 health point to all team members.

With seven teams, one team received a bye at the start, which, sensibly, was given to The Last Minutes. In the initial matches, Jo & The Wannas annihilated Knights of the Basin, and The Sith Who Say Nee! annihilated Hell's Kitchen, both with comfortable margins. LOLKatz eked out a narrow victory against Em & The Boiz in a match that went to time.

Continuing in the upper bracket, The Last Minutes faced off against Jo & The Wannas. Although it was a lopsided battle, Team captain Chris Stadther of The Last Minutes was able to land a few counterattacks, prolonging the fight and granting the cobbled together team some significant highs in an otherwise tough battle. In a similarly lopsided fight, LOLKatz easily defeated the less experienced Sith Who Say Nee!.

After defeating the Sith, it was time for the top teams of the upper bracket to face off in the semi-finals, consisting of Jo & The Wannas versus LOLKatz. It was a tough battle, but ultimately Jo & The Wannas emerged victorious, pushing LOLKatz down into the lower bracket. Jo & The Wannas were now poised to take the gold, unless LOLKatz or another team could claw their way back up.

In the lower bracket, it was the story of Hell's Kitchen and Knights of the Basin fighting their way up from the bottom. Ultimately they met halfway up the ladder, and experienced an extremely close battle. In the final exchange, with John Kupitz's health points at 2 and Bri MacNeil at 1, Kupitz charged MacNeil, hoping for a double hit that would leave Basin Saber with 1 health point remaining and secure them the win. However, MacNeil dropped low under Kupitz's attack, allowing MacNeil to make a clean swipe to the flank and bring the bout to a thrilling conclusion for the LA-based squad. Hell's Kitchen advanced to the lower final against LOLKatz.

Facing a highly experienced LOLKatz team, Hell's Kitchen had a tough fight. LOLKatz judiciously kept their members alive, while Hell's Kitchen was picked off one by one. In the end, Steve Perez used his superior height and reach to knock off 3 health points from MacNeil, ending their comeback and giving LOLKatz a chance for revenge against the undefeated Jo & The Wannas.

The Annihilation final was a precarious fight, with only five health points per member, making any mistake costly. Jo & The Wannas faced some early setbacks, but the LOLKatz had a challenging task ahead; having been defeated by Jo & The Wannas once already, they had to beat them twice in order to claim the gold.

But the Wannas weren’t about to let it come to that. Chan scored a headshot, knocking off 3 HP from rival Tony Zaldua and eliminating the former champ. Perez, for the Katz, followed up with a counterblow in the next encounter, taking out Chan, but Perez's health points were depleted to one. Mas, for the Wannas, returned to the ring and eliminated Perez.

Ultimately, the bout came down to time, with Laurange and Lewis closing out the fight. Jo & The Wannas emerged as the champions, securing the first national gold medal for Annihilation. LOLKatz took home the silver, and Hell's Kitchen earned the bronze.

Despite some scheduling issues and a learning curve for referees, Annihilation was an incredibly successful format that garnered a lot of fans during its national debut. It is sure to return next year at Lightspeed Menace in 2024. Congratulations to all the winners, and well done to Basin Saber Academy for pioneering this exciting new way to play Lightspeed Saber fencing.

The winners received prize sabers and blades by Kyber Cave.

DUET SKIRMISH

On Friday, the duet skirmishes began. These were sequential bouts of two members per team, whereby each teammate would face off against each opposing team member, for a total of four periods per bout. Each team fought in the pools and then moved into the bracket based on their performance in the pool. Pool periods were up to 7 points, and bracket periods were up to 15, with a total team match point of 60.

There were nine teams in total: The Dallas Cougars (Kat Laurange and Laura Carnes), The Pink Ladies (Rebecca Moore and Dinah Kolasa), Icy Hot Pain Relieving (Josh Mas and Rob Chan), The Last Minutes (Jowanna Lewis and Preston Pomeroy), Astral & Umbral (Zach Hoover and Kristina Sumabat), The Perezalduites (Steve Perez and Tony Zaldua), Trullins (John Mullins and Asher Trask), The 41st Battalion (William Alonzo and Jesse Fajardo), and Snotson (Cang Snow and Emily Watson).

Team Icy Hot topped the rankings after the initial pool, followed by the Perezalduites and the 41st Battalion. The Pink Ladies and the Cougars competed in the playoffs to make it into the main bracket. The Cougars, being the more experienced team, defeated the Pink Ladies handily, but that meant they had to face off against Team Icy Hot, the team that had already won the annihilation tournament. Meanwhile, the Perezalduites defeated Team Trullins in a 60-38 match. Astral & Umbral engaged in a slow siege battle against the cautious but competitive pair of Preston Pomeroy and Jowanna Lewis, with Pomeroy using the only Ren Saber of the event. Team Snotson fought against the 41st Battalion and initially gained a comfortable lead, only to lose it later and ultimately hand the victory to the Battalion by a single point.

So it was Team Icy Hot, The Last Minutes, The Perezalduites, and the 41st Battalion advancing to the semifinals. Team Icy Hot conserved their energy for this battle, winning by time and staying just ahead of The Last Minutes. The Perezalduites defeated the 41st Battalion handily with a score of 61 to 26.

Due to time constraints, the bronze medal match between The Last Minutes and the 41st Battalion was not fought, and the duet final would take place the next night as the culminating competition for Lightspeed Returns.

A full 24 hours passed between the last semifinal and the final competition between Icy Hot Pain Relieving and The Perezalduites. Rob Chan and Josh Mas faced off against Tony Zaldua and Steve Perez, respectively. While Josh Mas and Steve Perez had little combat experience with each other before Lightspeed Returns, this was anticipated to be a hard-fought battle, especially between Zaldua and Chan, as Chan had already defeated Zaldua several times in other tournaments. It would be exciting to see if Zaldua's strategies had evolved enough to take down his rival.

The finals bout started with Rob Chan versus Steve Perez. This period largely became a shootout between Chan and Perez, with Chan winning this lopsided period due to slightly better speed and agility, finishing at 15 to 2. This left it up to Zaldua in the next period against Mas to catch up, which he wasted no time doing. Zaldua deployed at least one counterattack and was further backed up by a 3-point penalty against Mas, contributing to a rapid rally for Zaldua. The Perezalduites briefly overtook at 18-16. However, Josh Mas rallied himself and eventually took the match to a score of 30 to 24, holding off the Perezalduites for a little longer.

Next up was Josh Mas versus Steve Perez. Zaldua had done a good job catching up the team with Team Icy Hot, so it was up to Perez to try to keep the scores close. While much of this period was an even shootout between Mas and Perez, Mas was able to shoot up the scoreboard with as many as four counterattacks throughout the period, earning the lion's share of Team Icy Hot's points. The period ended with a score of 45 to 27 in favor of Team Icy Hot.

This left the final period between Chan and his rival, Tony Zaldua, who had a lot of ground to make up. Rob Chan opened the period with a clean cut to Zaldua's leg. However, Zaldua followed up in the next encounter with a headshot, followed by a long and low leg hit to Chan, which caught the new champion by surprise. In another exchange, Zaldua went in for a long and deep attack, but Chan dodged it with a casual lean and followed up with a gentle tap against Zaldua's whiff, earning two points for Team Icy Hot.

The fencers continued to trade off 2-pointers back and forth, with Zaldua generally keeping a consistent distance. However, Chan steadily grew his team's points, nearing 60. Finally, at 58 to 40, Chan sniped the hilt of an unprepared Zaldua, clinching the victory and securing the first national gold for a duet skirmish in Lightspeed Saber fencing.

The duet skirmish brought a whole new element of strategy to Lightspeed Saber fencing, different from individual competition and different still from the annihilation competition. This format is surely here to stay. Only in the future, it could be a triplet skirmish, making for even longer and more dramatic bouts. Only time will tell as we count down the months until Lightspeed Menace 2024.

The winners received prize sabers and blades by Ripper Blades.

Congratulations to all the winners, and many thanks to Klamath Falls for pioneering the new Annihilation format. Special thanks to our sponsors Ripper Blades, Kyber Cave, and the Custom Saber Shop. And a big thank you to all the Lightspeed Saber fencers and fans for making this momentous occasion possible.

Cang Snow
Chief Executive Officer