Well, it’s another year, another season. Can you believe it’s our 9th competitive year? Granted not all of it was exactly normal— the 2019 rules restructuring put tournaments into limbo for a while, and then that delay was compounded by years of the pandemic— but we have endeavored to carry on and I think we have succeeded at that goal.
This year presents another major shift in the rules, in particular regarding safety & power, with the addition of shinguards now required for competition, the removal of the novice ruleset, and the rescission of several safety & power rules that— while objective and easy to enforce— were at times overly punishing. We have made these changes in favor of the hybrid objective-subjective power reffing protocol, which we will share more info about soon. It is with this new system that we hope to maintain objectivity without being overly punitive, while also being flexible enough to handle more situations than the old protocol had done.
OTHER IMPORTANT CHANGES
The quillons now only block Indirect Contacts to the hilt, glove, or forearm.
Tano Sabers are now formally recognized as a competitive weapon system. While both weapons may be used to attack— unlike Dyad Saber— only one weapon may be used to attack at a time.
Accidental self-disarmament no longer nullifies the point.
Attack priority now escalates by one point on each iteration.
Attack priority may now default at 2 points for eliminations.
Lower leg sweeps are no longer illegal by default (but a ref may use that as part of their decision making)
Breaking your blade on an attack is no longer illegal by default (but a ref may use that as part of their decision making)
As we are still a small organization, we have the ability to act quickly and with greater flexibility than a larger organization. As such, expect more big changes down the line as we adjust to the evolving art of Lightspeed Saber fencing, so that we can make sure that we always have fastest, funnest, and safest light-based fencing system in the world.
Thank you for reading and thanks for being part of Lightspeed Saber!
Cang Snow