Worlds 2018 in the Netherlands

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Smaug
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Hi Eric,
as already said many thanks for organizing together with Mark, it was a great weekend!

P.S.: I have not lost 2 games in the qualifier only 1, the second was a 25 - 25 tie against Karsten ;-)

Cheers

Heiner
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Thorsten the Traveller
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apologies Heiner, I've edited from "lost two games" to "won only 2 games", I hope that's better :wink:

in answer to Gavin's questions:
1) the top 5 of Semi-finals played minion (3) and Fallen-wizard (2).
More specifically, 2x Hoarmûrath, a Balrog, Gandalf and Radagast. However, I believe Pawel switched between Balrog and Ringwraith depending on opponent's alignment (i.e. Balrog vs Hero). So that's 1,5 Balrog then :-)
Yes one is allowed to play a completely different deck in Finals. Only Patric did so. He went from Fallen-Radagast to normal Radagast. The others used their semi's decks, with some tweeking.

2) No real deviation from CoL rules, just a change in the order of tie-breakers. The reason was previous experiences at Worlds, where in situations with several people tied for a position, it was felt injust that those with lower opponent scores or an early round bye could gain prominence due to nr. of wins or head-to-head. In short, the community - or at least those present at Worlds - feels opponent score is a more fair tie-breaker. However, as it turns out, we are still not fully decided on this. Personally, I would favour 1. head-to-head, 2. opponent score, 3. nr. of wins.

3) 2-deck, yes (80 minutes)

4) not to my knowledge, but I didn't see all matches of course as I was also playing. Truth be told, even I as part of the ROC didn't have all ARV's present in mind, I should have probably printed a list, but I don't think a printable overview is currently available.
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Muad'Dib
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Ok, here is my point of view of this weekend.

- my wizard died in most of my sealed games (4x in 6 games) because of some shitty rolls (like Vanishment or Ambusher)
- im the only one who won all of his games in semis and didnt qualify to the finals (as i said, please create new tie-breaker, im ready to test, since it was my 2nd time when i was out of finals because of tie-breaker)
- there was no prize for me for winning Challenge Deck event, seems its not very important event
- because we didnt like Stevie, so closed the castle when he was outside and forced him to sleep in his car (and even later Wolfgang stole his backpack)
- its worth to memorize drinking game vs Mark, when he was barely sitting on his chair, whiskey bottle was empty and i was waiting about 20 seconds for any hazard. Thought i had safely reached new site and suddenly he moved his hand with one card, screaming "Die you motherfucker". It was battle between Ren and Peath, unfortunately she was too weak. Also, in my next game Patrick faced: Agburanar Ahunt, Smaug Ahunt, Dunlending Raiders and Assassin. It was simple travel from Rivendell to Iron Hill Dwarf-hold.

So it was amazing weekend, always pleasure to meet you guys and thanks for organizing unforgettable event ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

here you have some photos -> Worlds MECCG 2018 Heemskerk
Last edited by Muad'Dib on Sun Nov 04, 2018 3:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Shapeshifter
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the Jabberwock wrote: Wed Oct 31, 2018 12:31 am 4) Did any notable rules scenarios crop up during play that were affected by this year's Annual Rules Vote results?
In my game vs. Mark in the finals he wanted to play NEITHER SO ANCIENT NOR SO POTENT on my stored Sapling of the White Tree (being my only item MP). He wasn't aware of the fact that NSANSP gives item MPs since this year's ARV. If he had know, he most likely would have had taken a better hazard from the sideboard instead.
Looking backwards the new CoE errata should have been announced or made available at the tournament beforehand. Not everybody checks this forum regularly.
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Thorsten the Traveller
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Thanks for the photos Pawel!
You might want to add a few 'winks' to your post (see below), not everybody understands your famous irony. Some might think we bullied Stevie but we like him! He actually locked himself out of the castle when going for a smoke after midnight. Kids, don't listen to your uncle Gandalf, smoking is dangerous! :lol:

Indeed, Challenge Decks is an inferior tournament :wink:
But here was a prize for winning it, you got first pick of those awesome cardsleeves :wink:
When I ordered the playmats, Challenge Decks was not foreseen as a tournament. I'll make it up to you with the next playmat printing.

nb. moving from Rivendell to Iron Hill Dwarf-hold is not simple travel, least of all in sealed, it's 6 regions away.
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Vastor Peredhil
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Saturday Night with Joe's Arda 4 Player game, with epic moves by all 4 players

mfg Nicolai
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Shapeshifter
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Thorsten the Traveller wrote: Tue Oct 30, 2018 8:35 pm for the full results visit (in due time) the Fallen-Gandalf website, your place to find all meccg tournament results!
Results of the main event are available at the webpage (as usual only the top four players). I'm looking forward to add decklists as soon as I receive them from the finalists.

The list of the 10 Most Successful MECCG Players is also updated. Heiner and Patric are in the lead now.
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Shapeshifter
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Here are the results of the Worlds Finals round robin:

round 1
Mark - Patric 6-0
Heiner - Karsten 4-2

round 2
Patric - Karsten 6-0
Heiner - Mark 4-2

round 3
Heiner - Patric 4-2
Mark - Karsten 4-2
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Eonwe
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Thorsten,

I didn't feel bullied! :) Smoking ain't too bad... but, next time maybe inform all participants about the hostel rules?
Muad'Dib
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Thorsten the Traveller wrote: Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:14 am Thanks for the photos Pawel!
You might want to add a few 'winks' to your post (see below), not everybody understands your famous irony. Some might think we bullied Stevie but we like him! He actually locked himself out of the castle when going for a smoke after midnight. Kids, don't listen to your uncle Gandalf, smoking is dangerous! :lol:

Indeed, Challenge Decks is an inferior tournament :wink:
But here was a prize for winning it, you got first pick of those awesome cardsleeves :wink:
When I ordered the playmats, Challenge Decks was not foreseen as a tournament. I'll make it up to you with the next playmat printing.

I added few more winks, hope its enough to understand my "famous" irony :D

Of course i was joking about Stevie's sleeping outside of the castle and about prize :) I dont come for prizes, just really like all of you (even Stevie ;) ). Every year i enjoy less playing MECCG but i cant imagine not to meet you every year. Of course you dont need to print any prize for me ;)
Thorsten the Traveller wrote: Thu Nov 01, 2018 8:14 am nb. moving from Rivendell to Iron Hill Dwarf-hold is not simple travel, least of all in sealed, it's 6 regions away.
In drinking game almost everything is easy, expect avoiding headache the next day ;)
IMustNotFear.FearIsTheMind-Killer.FearIsTheLittle-death ThatBringsTotalObliteration.IWillFaceMyFear.
IWillPermitItToPassOverMeAndThroughMe.
AndWhenItHasGonePast,IWillTurnTheInnerEyeToSeeItsPath.
WhereTheFearHasGoneThereWillBeNothing. OnlyIWillRemain.
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Eonwe
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Thank you Pavel!

It was really nice meeting you all and playing ME all weekend! Aye, you can't really avoid the alcohol headache, but drinking a lot of water helps...
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Shapeshifter
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On Friday I played Hero Sealed tournament. I don't remember that much of it, besides that it was much fun. So let's start directly with the main event....

On Saturday we had Worlds semi-finals. We were 13 players, iirc, who took part in this tournament. According to the Council of Lorien tournament rules we had to play four rounds. I played an original Fallen Gandalf deck in Eriador that plays lots of Dunedain, makes wizardhavens and tries to reduce movement wherever possible. My starting company usually consists of Firiel, Súrion (Gandalf’s Friend), Glóin and Óin. My hazards against Heroes and Fallen are kind of a grab bag that focuses on stopping especially Eriador based decks and Fallen Wizard decks (3 Arthadan Rangers, 1 Blind/Ire straight in the deck etc.). Against Minions I used a Free-peoples/Maia strategy.

In my first game of the semi-finals I faced Wolfgang from Austria. He played his well-known “Dwarves on Speed”-deck, a Hero Short Rest deck in Eriador with Dwarves. Because he didn’t draw A Short Rest early in the game – actually he didn’t play any of his three Short Rests until the last turn – the game was slower than expected. This was quite good for me because my deck needs some turns to evolve. This is also one of the tricky parts about my deck because you always have a feeling that you are way behind in marshalling points. I think it was on my third turn when Gandalf was killed by an Assassin on his way to Old Forest. From now on my goal was to avoid a 6-0 loss. Even without Gandalf my deck performed not that bad. This combined with my hazards and some unlucky rolls by Wolfgang on his factions made that the game was quite close in the end. When Wolfgang’s Glóin bearing Dúrin’s Axe (his only item) finally failed his corruption check on 3 during the council I was sure that I had won this game. When we counted MPs I was really surprised that it was even enough for a 6-0 win for me.

In round two I played against Heiner from Germany who could call himself one and a half times world champion ;-). Heiner played his (in)famous Balrog deck with which he became world champion in Argentina. My hazard deck worked very well against him. I played My Precious before he could play Stinker. When he moved to the Under-leas on turn two with his Balrog I had Witch-king of Angmar ready to turn the site into a Dark-hold, thus Heiner played Aiglos only and discarded the Ancient Black Axe. Two The Way is Shut slowed him down even more during the game. Foolish Words stopped Orcs of Moria and even a chilled Elrond (Master of the House) showed up and wounded Bolg. Unfortunately for me, during his last turn my hazards couldn’t stop him from scoring many MPs. I think he made at least 11 MP during that last turn and reduced my MPs by one by revealing The Warg-king during the council. In the end we tied (3-3).

Third game vs. Eric from The Netherlands: He played a really interesting Minion deck with Dwar as his Ringwraith. His covert company (Gulla and Golodhros were among them) visits free-holds in Gondor and burns them down with Smoke on the Wind. Dwar usually grants them a bonus to prowess by using his special ability. I was a bit lucky to draw two or three Maia hazard creatures in the first two rounds. This didn’t stop him from playing anything but slowed him down a lot by tapping or wounding characters. I think I was in the lead for the most part of the game. During Eric’s last turn I made a wrong decision, though. His Nevido Smôd moved to Mount Doom in order to play an ally which he really needed in order to avoid doubling ally MPs on my side. I assumed that he would play War-wolf but was not really sure if he had Great Bats in hand instead. If I had been sure I would have definitely tapped Witch-king of Angmar to turn the volcano into a dark-hold, thus making war-wolf unplayable there. I decided, however, to attack him with Sellswords instead which he easily cancelled with Orc Quarrels. Of course he played War-wolf and not Great Bats. Thus the game ended wit a 5-1 win for me.

Before the last round of the semis I was in the lead with 14 MPs. Now I had to play against Mark from the USA who was second with 12 MPs. Mark gained four times the title of MECCG world champion already so I knew this would be a very hard game. Against my Fallen Gandalf he played a Lidless Eye-deck. I think it was (a variant? of) this deck with which he won North American Nationals in 2005. He starts with two Lieutenants who move to Dragon-country and play lots of stuff there. Mark uses a very cool strategy to protect against Elf-lords. He plays Doors of Night and Morgul-night as half-resources in order to turn any wilderness into a shadow-land where elf-lords cannot be played while Doors are in play. Moreover he uses Morgul-night to tap opponents sites with Foul Fumes (this card has no effect on Minion players). Crept Along Cleverly, Down Down to Goblin-town, Eye Never Sleeping and The Great Eye cancel almost everything. If a Lieutenant gets wounded despite of that protection there is still a Foul-smelling Paste. When our starting companies were revealed Mark said in astonishment something like: “I never saw someone being in the lead that plays MIRUVOR!” Later on in the game he added “and Never Refuse” :lol: . My deck didn’t work very well for the first time. This was probably also because I avoided moving to Old Forest (I had Tom in hand early) while Doors were in play because I feared Foul Fumes. I couldn’t harm Mark’s company with my hazards so he made points after points while I was gathering MPs very slow. Due to a good last turn it was “only” a 4-2 win for Mark.

The finalists after tie breaker (all five players had 16 TP): 1st Mark, 2nd Karsten, 3rd Heiner, 4th Patric, Pawel out unfortunately.
I played no games in the evening, just had some drinks (Bavarian from the hostel bar) and prepared my decks for the finals.

Part 2 of the report about the finals to follow...

[Edit 2018-12-01: Eric played with Dwar the Ringwraith, not with Ren of course]
Last edited by Shapeshifter on Sat Dec 01, 2018 8:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Khamul the Easterling
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Really enjoyed reading your report, Karsten, thanks! :)
Adanhedel
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Yep, It's both fun and exciting to read this! As I never went to any tournament, it's nice to read your report. I look forward to read more of it. Thanks!
gollum51
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You should join us at Lure.
It is very close from Alsace. :D
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