Worlds 2014 - Tourney reports
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 12:47 am
Sorry we've been a bit quiet about the event. Here's my tournament report, as best I can remember.
Friday: Hero sealed followed by ARDA. Heiner won hero sealed. ARDA was great fun. I believe Chad Martin won.
Saturday: Semi-finals and drinking game. The top four in semi-finals were Joe, Heiner, Mark, and Brian. Brian and Wolfgang tied for 4th place, but Brian won the tie-breaker. Only two of the finalists competed in the drinking game: Heiner and Mark. Heiner won it. Joe and Brian may have had an unfair advantage the next day.
Sunday: Finals and casual games. Round 1: Heiner defeats Mark 4-2; Brian defeats Joe 5-1. Round 2: Heiner defeats Brian 4-2; Joe defeats Mark 4-2. At this point, the TP situation was: Heiner 8, Brian 7, Joe 5, and Mark 4. Mark was effectively eliminated from the tournament, but the result of his match could eliminate Brian or make it easier/harder for Heiner/Joe. Round 3: Mark defeats Brian 4-2; Joe defeats Heiner 6-0. Final TP results: Joe 11, Brian 9, Heiner 8, Mark 8. Each player had 2 wins and 1 loss. During the semi-finals, Brian defeated Mark 4-2, so there was a reversal there. Likewise during semis, Mark defeated Joe 4-2, another reversal. If I recall correctly, Heiner defeated Brian in both semi-finals and finals, and there were no other repeat match-ups.
Personal report: I played a deck that was very similar to the hero deck I used to win worlds 2013 -- short rest in Eriador with Radagast. Because I'd seen a lot of snowstorms and foul fumes/morgul night combos from the finalists in the semis, I went into the finals with 3 twilights and 1 Gates of Morning in the deck (normally just two twilights). Since I was fairly sure that I wouldn't face another hero, I packed 2 Blind to the West and 1 Ire of the East against Hero/Fallen Wizard. This was a good idea, though when I played the cards they turned out to be pretty ineffectual (e.g., I tagged Heiner's Bold Thrust with an Ire of the East, but he killed the creature anyway). In my first matchup against Heiner, I was ahead for about the first half of the game. Then I faced a single corruption check of 4 against Pallando (he was fallen Radagast, so I substituted P). Rolled a 4. Blew up my wizard. Still managed to call the next turn with 27 TP, but then the -5 penalty took my total below his. Shit happens. Round 2 against Joe was another case of shit happening. Despite my putting 3 twilights and 1 Gates in the deck, he was able to Snowstorm me back into Rivendell for three straight turns. This occurred even though I had at that point drawn 42 cards. Joe played extremely slowly, so we ran out of official time at the end of turn 3.5. We talked each other into having 5 turns each, to make it a real Middle-Earth game. Have to admit that I don't want to play another game of this sort ever again. Round 3 was against Joe. As I mentioned above, I was out at this point, but I could still make a difference for the other players. Brian was also playing an environment hazard deck, but I was able to get to Himring and the Isles of the Dead that Live to play some points. In the end, I was just a little too fast for him, ended up winning 4-2. Meanwhile, Joe and Heiner's game lasted over two hours, at the end of which Joe won.
Reflections on the state of the game: As I remarked after Worlds 2013, the tiebreaker system we currently have is stupid and broken. We should switch to something more rational, such as strength of schedule as the main tiebreaker. Time-wasting is also becoming a serious problem. The game isn't fun or interesting when someone's organization phase takes 15 minutes. It also creates all sorts of knock-on problems. The player who takes a huge amount of time puts pressure on the opponent to rush (in order to have a game with the usual number of turns) or go at the usual pace (and then either end after 3 turns, which is unfair, or go way overtime, which is also unfair). I suggest a chess-timer approach in the future, at least for finals. Each player would get 40 minutes of decision-making time, which adds up to the usual 80 minutes. If a player goes over, the opponent gets to proceed without hazards being played on him, receives incremental bonus tournament points, or some other penalty. Without such adjustments, I doubt I'll participate in another World Championship.
Friday: Hero sealed followed by ARDA. Heiner won hero sealed. ARDA was great fun. I believe Chad Martin won.
Saturday: Semi-finals and drinking game. The top four in semi-finals were Joe, Heiner, Mark, and Brian. Brian and Wolfgang tied for 4th place, but Brian won the tie-breaker. Only two of the finalists competed in the drinking game: Heiner and Mark. Heiner won it. Joe and Brian may have had an unfair advantage the next day.
Sunday: Finals and casual games. Round 1: Heiner defeats Mark 4-2; Brian defeats Joe 5-1. Round 2: Heiner defeats Brian 4-2; Joe defeats Mark 4-2. At this point, the TP situation was: Heiner 8, Brian 7, Joe 5, and Mark 4. Mark was effectively eliminated from the tournament, but the result of his match could eliminate Brian or make it easier/harder for Heiner/Joe. Round 3: Mark defeats Brian 4-2; Joe defeats Heiner 6-0. Final TP results: Joe 11, Brian 9, Heiner 8, Mark 8. Each player had 2 wins and 1 loss. During the semi-finals, Brian defeated Mark 4-2, so there was a reversal there. Likewise during semis, Mark defeated Joe 4-2, another reversal. If I recall correctly, Heiner defeated Brian in both semi-finals and finals, and there were no other repeat match-ups.
Personal report: I played a deck that was very similar to the hero deck I used to win worlds 2013 -- short rest in Eriador with Radagast. Because I'd seen a lot of snowstorms and foul fumes/morgul night combos from the finalists in the semis, I went into the finals with 3 twilights and 1 Gates of Morning in the deck (normally just two twilights). Since I was fairly sure that I wouldn't face another hero, I packed 2 Blind to the West and 1 Ire of the East against Hero/Fallen Wizard. This was a good idea, though when I played the cards they turned out to be pretty ineffectual (e.g., I tagged Heiner's Bold Thrust with an Ire of the East, but he killed the creature anyway). In my first matchup against Heiner, I was ahead for about the first half of the game. Then I faced a single corruption check of 4 against Pallando (he was fallen Radagast, so I substituted P). Rolled a 4. Blew up my wizard. Still managed to call the next turn with 27 TP, but then the -5 penalty took my total below his. Shit happens. Round 2 against Joe was another case of shit happening. Despite my putting 3 twilights and 1 Gates in the deck, he was able to Snowstorm me back into Rivendell for three straight turns. This occurred even though I had at that point drawn 42 cards. Joe played extremely slowly, so we ran out of official time at the end of turn 3.5. We talked each other into having 5 turns each, to make it a real Middle-Earth game. Have to admit that I don't want to play another game of this sort ever again. Round 3 was against Joe. As I mentioned above, I was out at this point, but I could still make a difference for the other players. Brian was also playing an environment hazard deck, but I was able to get to Himring and the Isles of the Dead that Live to play some points. In the end, I was just a little too fast for him, ended up winning 4-2. Meanwhile, Joe and Heiner's game lasted over two hours, at the end of which Joe won.
Reflections on the state of the game: As I remarked after Worlds 2013, the tiebreaker system we currently have is stupid and broken. We should switch to something more rational, such as strength of schedule as the main tiebreaker. Time-wasting is also becoming a serious problem. The game isn't fun or interesting when someone's organization phase takes 15 minutes. It also creates all sorts of knock-on problems. The player who takes a huge amount of time puts pressure on the opponent to rush (in order to have a game with the usual number of turns) or go at the usual pace (and then either end after 3 turns, which is unfair, or go way overtime, which is also unfair). I suggest a chess-timer approach in the future, at least for finals. Each player would get 40 minutes of decision-making time, which adds up to the usual 80 minutes. If a player goes over, the opponent gets to proceed without hazards being played on him, receives incremental bonus tournament points, or some other penalty. Without such adjustments, I doubt I'll participate in another World Championship.