LUMINA Duets

LUMINA is a weapon combat-based sport where participants, also known as Lumens, compete for points in timed rounds as teams using battle choreographies sequences. This is a combination, part choreography and part improvisation, to build saber-mastery among its participants. All attacks are communicated prior to an exchange by the use of Telegraphy, a silent gesture that the attacker performs to specify what CM they will be delivering.

LUMINA Duets is a game-type that is all about teamwork. Teams of Lumens work together to create the most dazzling of fight choreographies and try to out-perform all other teams to stage the best fight. Each match, participants are teamed up with other players to battle in choreography combat. Through each match, each players gains points every time they successfully commit and/or defend a CMs. The objective of each player is to obtain the highest amount of points. The winner of the game is the player that completes the most amount of points.

Duets Games usually end with a pair of winners. Players who play across multiple games in the season accrue points across games. The Lumen who collects the highest amount of points is the Season's winner.

Rules Changes: Every year, our rules are reviewed and updated to ensure fair battle play by reducing loopholes or exploits. Scores are also changed depending on CM as we review the time it takes to complete each CM or if a CM is modified. Duets 2019 Rules - Duets 2018 Rules - Duets 2017 Rules

Lumens must pre-register this year. A form will be published on SaberCraft Lumeneers Group along with on the website under “LUMINA Overview” and “ALL Lessons” pages.

• No Walk-ins

CMs can be played in combinations resulting in a “Power Play” for an additional point. Attacker must combine 2 different telegraphs prior to engaging in the attack. A maximum of 2 CMs can be played consecutively. Power Play points are granted to the team as part of each of their individual scores. Depending on the complexity determines the points. For example:

• 2 Simple CMs: +1 = 3 Total Points
  For example: CM A (worth 1 point) + CM H (worth 1 point) PLUS +1 for the Power Play results in a total of 3 points for that turn.
• 1 Simple + 1 Advanced: +1  = 4 Total Points
  For example: CM A (worth 1 point) + CM G (worth 2 points) PLUS +1 for the Power Play results in a total of 4 points for that turn.
• 2 Advanced CMs: +1 = 5 Total Points
  For example: CM I (worth 2 points) + CM J (worth 2 points) PLUS +1 for the Power Play results in a total of 5 points for that turn.
• 1 Advanced CM + 1 Extended CM: +1 = 6 Total Points
  For example: CM J (worth 2 points) + CM K (worth 3 points) PLUS +1 for the Power Play results in a total of 6 points for that turn.
• 2 Consecutive Extended forms: +1 = 7 Total Points
  For example: CM E (worth 3 points) + CM R (worth 3 points) PLUS +1 for the Power Play results in a total of 7 points for that turn.
• 1 Super CM + 1 Extended: +1 = 8 Total Points
  For example: CM K (worth 4 points) + CM E (worth 3 points) PLUS +1 for the Power Play results in a total of 8 points for that turn.

How to play Against the Clock (Speed):

1. Gather several participants
2. Split them into teams of 2 lumens each
3. Select “Against the Clock” time-based (e.g. 2 minute match with unlimited rounds)
4. Roll a die or flip a coin to determine opening team.
   Roll with the highest number is selected winner and opens the game or the team can designate order.
   Flip a coin for opening attacker or use other selection method.
5. Begin timer for 2 minutes.
6. Lumen A telegraphs a CM of choice to Lumen B
7. Both engage in the turn
8. Upon successfully completing the CM, the roles switch
9. Lumen B telegraphs a CM of choice to Lumen A
10. Both engage in the turn
11. Upon successfully completing the CM, the turn is over and roles switch
12. Upon finishing the 2nd turn, the round is over. Continue to next round.
13. Repeat until timer is completed.
14. Determine points based on CMs & Powerplay combinations.
15. Team that rolled next highest number goes next.

How to play Rounds:

1. Gather several participants
2. Split them into teams of 2 lumens each
3. A game of 3 Rounds is selected (e.g. 3 round match - each player has 3 turns for a total of 6 exchanges) and up to 3 minutes Max time.
4. Roll a die or flip a coin to determine opening team.
   Roll with the highest number is selected winner and opens the game or the team can designate order.
   Flip a coin for opening attacker or use other selection method.
5. Begin timer for 3 minutes for the entire match..
6. Lumen A telegraphs a CM of choice to Lumen B
7. Both engage in the turn
8. Upon successfully completing the CM, the roles switch
9. Lumen B telegraphs a CM of choice to Lumen A
10. Both engage in the turn
11. Upon successfully completing the CM, the turn is over and roles switch
12. Upon finishing the 2nd turn, the round is over. Continue to next round.
13. Repeat until timer is completed or designated end round has completed.
14. Determine points based on CMs & Powerplay combinations.
15. Team that rolled next highest number goes next.

Winning a Game:

• Winning team of players is team that achieves the most amount of points in a given match.
• Games usually end with 4 winners = 2 for Speed and 2 for Rounds.
• Tournaments may be played in brackets with singles or doubles.

Judging:

• Only 2 players: Use a camera/phone to capture the match and make the judgement calls after the fight.
• 3+ players: Have at least 1 player watch and make the judgement calls.

How to get prepared:

• Learn the forms & the telegraphs
• Practice in Accelerators

Winning the Season

LUMINA 2020 will be conducted across 3 games throughout the year. Each LUMINA Game day will have a Speed division and Rounds Division. To win the season, Lumens must have the highest score across the entire the season adding their scores across all 3 games per division.

Example: Jill plays in Speed across all 3 Games. Her highest scores in Speed across all 3 games are:
Game 1: 30  -  Game 2: 25   -  Game 3: 25
Jill's Seasonal Score is 80. 

Add up all the highest scores keeping the Speed and Rounds division scores seperate. The player with the highest score is the Champion for the season. The 2nd highest achieves 2nd Place and 3rd highest achieves 3rd Place.  If there is a tie for any spot, a Tie-Breaker must be conducted. The result will then determine which of the 2 places as the next available slot, with the loser of the Tie-Breaker taking the lower place.

Game days are usually split into 2 Game-types: Against the Clock and Rounds-based. Lumens competing are expected to enroll either in 1 or both games. When you join a game-type, you will be expected to play 2 times in what are called "match-types": one time you will play with your Chosen team-mate, the 2nd time you play you will be partnered with someone Randomly.

For example: Game 1

Against the Clock: Wilhelm chooses to play his first match with Valerie. The Judges do a random drawing of all players and randomly pair Wilhelm with another Lumen at the game - Sarah. Wilhelm and Valerie finish their match with 25 points. Wilhelm goes again with Sarah, his random partner, and scores 20 points.

Wilhelm keeps the highest score of the two matches as his "Speed Score" for Game 1: 25

Rounds-Based: Wilhelm chooses to play his first match with Valerie once again. The Judges do a random drawing of all players and randomly pair Wilhelm with another Lumen at the game - Charly. Wilhelm and Valerie finish their match with 23 points. Wilhelm goes again with Charly, his random partner, and scores 230 points.

Wilhelm keeps the highest score of the two matches as his "Rounds Score" for Game 1: 30

We suggest conducting the day in the following order from easiest to most difficult:

1. Rounds - Chosen,
2. Rounds - Random,
3. Speed - Chosen,
4. Speed - Random

See sample LUMINA - Sample Game Day

Lumens are provided the Random match-types for both game-types Rounds and Speed to give them an opportunity to get an even better score leveraging their improvisation skills. It is assumed that for Chosen battles, partners will have time to strategize whereby Random, that opportunity does not exist. This is the beauty of LUMINA where it combines what a Lumen knows of choreography and how to apply it through improvisation when battling against a Random team-mate.

Lumens should battle once with their choice of player for each game-type but they cannot play more than once for that game-type and match type.

Advanced Play

Fundamentals Play

Recovery

Recovery is the act of saving a failing CM during the exchange. If a team partner looses their place, or is confused and their partner can get them back on track in less than than 2 moves, the CM is “recovered” and counts for its full points including powerplays. To define “bringing duets back on track” it all comes down to pace. Both partners should work together in order to pickup a possibly incomplete CM or Powerplay by continuing a particular pace throughout the CM that does not deviate. Three or more misses of a CM constitutes an Incomplete.

Example Recoveries:
1. If the lumens ended up switching (offensive vs defensive) but both made switch at same time and completed (just the opposite side). Assuming the pace remain consistent, this counts as a recovery.
2. If the lumens ended up switching (offensive vs defensive) in mid-CM but both made switch at same time and completed (just the opposite side). Assuming the pace remain consistent, this counts as a recovery.

The Baseline

The Champion plays a crucial coaching role and becomes a judge in the following season. Their role is titled the “Baseline” as their score is not tallied but they may participate with active Lumens who are competing in order to provide them an advantage with their proficiency. The Baseline fills in for empty spots in any given game where only and odd count number of players are available. Their partner receives the points from the round, however the Baseline does not.

Handicaps

A Handicap is when you offer an advantage/disadvantage to your players. On any given game, a set of CMs may be worth higher or less points. This can help “shake things up” as a CM that usually is worth many points may, for a game, be considered worth less.

For example, say in your upcoming game, your judges agree that CM-N and CM-G are worth 5 points while CM-D and CM-E are worth 1 point. This helps challenge your Lumens to learn as many CMs as possible so they are always ready when handicaps are thrown into the play.

Handicaps should be communicated at least 2 weeks before the next game. Handicaps apply to both formats of the game.

Example Play:

SaberCraft recommends that you seek the advice of your physician before commencing any exercise routine. Like any sport, injuries may occur and safety gear is always recommended including padded gloves, eye protection and proper athletic wear. We provide a warm-up guide on SaberCraft.org. The participant assumes any & all risks of injury associated with or in any manner related to participation in any LUMINA-related activity, including injury resulting from the negligence of any party. We’re not responsible for any injuries that may occur while practicing or performing. Now that we got the legal stuff out of the way, let’s dive in.

ADJUDICATION AWARDS

1. At the end of the season, the following awards will be awarded. 
   1. 1st Place: Lumen with the most amount of points across the entire season. 
   2. 2nd Place: Lumen with the 2nd most amount of points across the entire season. 
   3. 3rd Place: Lumen with the 3rd most amount of points across the entire season. 
   4. Vanguard: Lumen with the highest number of wins averaged having competed in a minimum of half the number of games.

Rules:

1. Play must be conducted in a designated area/arena, we recommend a minimum of 30' x 30'.
2. Matches and Recoveries should be non-verbal. Lumens should not be talking when they are playing.
3. Each match can either be set by time-limit or a predesignated number of rounds based on game type.
4. Each round consists of turns between Lumens. If the match is Against the Clock based, then it's unlimited rounds; if the match is Round-based then it's up to 3 rounds.
5. A turn is where 1 participant engages against the other player using either 1 CM or up to 2 CMs (in a PowerPlay) of choice.
6. Participants switch role as attacker after each turn.
7. Attacker must telegraph to Defender of incoming CM or PowerPlay.
8. CMs are pre-assigned combinations of points. Each CM is a different value and divided into 3 categories:
   1. Simple CMs are worth 1 point.
   2. Advanced CMs are worth 2 points.
   3. Extended CMs are worth 3 points.
   4. Super CMs are worth 4 points.
   5. Styled pauses & locks are also counted as steps. 
9. Lumens are allowed to "pass" a CM or PowerPlay by telegraph. Their teammate continues to offer various telegraphs until a nod from the Lumen to engage.
10. The Team is awarded points if attacker and defender successfully complete a CM.
11. Points are awarded to the team, not the players.
12. Attackers must step forward.
13. Defenders must step backwards.
14. If attacker forgets a strike, the CM is invalid and the turn switches to the defender unless the team successfully deliver a Recovery.
15. If timer runs out in mid-melee, that turn does not count. If both Lumens were in the middle of a PowerPlay, both seems are invalidated no matter how far in the PowerPlay the Lumens achieved.
16. A +10 Bonus award is provided to a match whereby no CMs are repeated. Every CM conducted in that match is unique by both Lumens, whereby once 1 Lumen plays B, the other Lumen cannot use B and it cannot be repeated.
17. Lumens are allowed to stop the match at any time. A Lumen simply has to make the pass gesture at the judges and lower their weapon.
18. Lumens should be paired to succeed to the best of their ability. When selecting a chosen or random partner, options may be limited. If Lumen A wishes to play but their CMs are highly limited and other players (Lumen B, C, and D) do not want to team up with Lumen A as it will limit their scores and potentially affect their seasonal score, there are a number of options:
    1. Lumen (A) may work with the Baseline thus not affecting other, more advanced players.
    2. Lumen (A) may work with a more advanced Lumen (B, C, D) as their choice in a Chosen game-type or Randomly. The more advanced Lumen (B, C, D) will forfiet their individual score acting as The Baseline. Lumen (B, C, D) will keep their score with their other partner that may compliment their skill set.
19. Players are discouraged to play out of bounds. If players enter into out-of-bounds area, the Turn is interrupted and players must turn to go back into arena. If play continues out-of-bounds rather than returning to the arena, points for that turn are nullified, the duet return back in center of arena with defender beginning their next turn. Clock continues throughout.
20. Striking participant incurs a penalty upon injury to partner. The worse the injury, the worse the penalty. Minimum penalty is 1 point, maximum penalty is disqualification.
21. Suggestion: It's good in larger groups to have 2 versions depending on player level. A Fundamentals version that only uses a small number of CMs for beginners and where strike/defenses rules are more lenient. An Advanced version of the game would then open it up to more/all the CMs and rules would be strictly enforced. For a demo, see below for example play.
22. If the Baseline throughout their season opts not to judge 75% or more of the following season’s matches, they are disqualified from participating in the following season’s games.