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In epee, before you make an attack, it's usually a smart idea to get your opponent's blade
out of the way. We do this with what's called, "The taking of the blade" or "an attack of
the blade." And there are a number of different approaches. One of these is the envelopment.
The envelopment is kind of a fun move that actually involves drawing- taking your opponent's
blade, and moving it in a complete circle, and of course freeing target area so that
you're going to follow an envelopment with an immediate attack. So let's show what an
envelopment looks like in action. In slow motion. If I'm going to attempt this move
on Cieri, I need to really take her entire blade and pull it out of the way, so that
I have- I'm maintaining control of her blade for that duration. And then, of course, I'm
doing that on my way into some kind of attack, that I want to do while I still have my blade
in opposition to her blade, while I've still cleared my target area so I can make that
attack successfully. Let's try that again a little bit faster. The envelopment pulls
the blade around and comes in for an attack. You want to be careful in any sort of taking
of the blade to make sure that you maintain control of that blade during the entire move,
so that- because at any point, this point is properly going to try to find your own
target areas. But that, again, is called an envelopment. It's making a- taking your opponent's
blade, moving it in a complete circle around your own, and then usually following with
an attack to target area.