2014 Final Standings
Rank Name Tournament points AVG. % of Winning Score
#1 Keith Dent 34 99%
#2 Isaac Bingham 30 94%
#3 Sorrel Hatch 28 89%
#4 Matt Musgrave 24 91%
#5 Neil Mecham 22 92%
#6 Ben Ibershoff 22 89%
#6 Jason Pisani 22 89%
#8 Neil The Grey 22 85%
#9 Trevor Oliver 22 84%
#10 Chris McCurry 20 87%
#11 Candace Mullins 20 85%
#12 Austin Rathbone 20 83%
#13 Jason Fontonot 18 85%
#14 Eduardo Ballestero 18 78%
#15 Joe Mecham 14 82%
#16 Tobiah Bingham 12 88%
#17 Chad Walker 12 85%
#18 Elle Wong 12 82%
#19 Bryce Carlberg 12 72%
#20 Heather Dent 10 76%
#21 Andy Heid 10 76%
#22 Steve Heid 10 71%
#23 Greg Smith 10 69%
Standings only include players that played for the full tournament.
2014 TOURNAMENT SUMMARY:
Wow what a tournament. I’m not even sure where to begin on this year. I guess the best place is to start by saying thanks to everyone who came to the tournament and for everyone who helped make it happen. There were so many little things happening that I didn’t even notice, but I know it wouldn’t have gone nearly as smoothly without all the little contributions of food and dishwashing and tables and cleaning. So thanks. Also this was a grueling long tournament and anyone who played deserves thanks for putting himself or herself through that.
A King’s Quest:
In sports they say that if you win a title 3 years in a row it is a dynasty. I think we may have the first LIW dynasty in the works. Congratulations are in order for Keith Dent, for wining his second Lion in Winter title. He now has two back to back and seems pretty unstoppable. Out of his 6 games he had 5 first place finishes and 1 second place. Someone afterwards asked me if he was ever in real danger of not winning it, which got me to thinking. I thought it would be fun to write a bit about the possible danger (if any) that Keith faced. For starters, even though he started off with 3 straight wins, it wasn’t locked up, because so did another player. Trevor Oliver, who is a worthy opponent who beats Keith from time to time at game night and dominated his first 3 rounds joined Keith atop the leader board. He appeared capable of toppling the Champ should he slip up. If you were to ask Keith he would probably tell you he never had any doubts about winning, but I think after going 3-0 out of the gate and still not being able to pull away from the pack he realized that this wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought. Then in round 4 Keith took the first hit to his perfect record in the 2 player series of San Juan. Despite being a competent player he was faced up against 2 San Juan regulars with hundreds of games under their belts. Tobiah Bingham beat Keith in the game they played but it was Chris McCurry who ended up taking 1st place in the round by beating Tobiah and Heather even though Keith beat him. He must have been relieved that Trevor too had taken a hit. Trevor ended up at the back of the pack in 7 Wonders, which knocked him back from Keith, but Sorrel Hatch stood out as the next player to challenge him. Sorrel and Keith both had 22 Tournament points after 4 rounds, and Keith still couldn’t breathe easy. Despite dispatching last years Lost Cities champ, Sorrel finished 2nd in round 5 to new co-champ Ben Ibershoff. Keith meanwhile pulled off a 1 pt squeaker against Jason Pisani in Tzolkin. I imagine that once again, as they were tallying up the final scores, that Keith felt like his crown may be threatened; however, he pulled it off and seemed to be on his way to a second championship. Then came the last round madness, and possibly the most dramatic dice roll in Lion in Winter history. Because of an odd set of circumstances it came down to a dice roll between Matt Musgrave and Keith to see who got to play in the last Race for the Galaxy spot, and who got stuck in Egizia. Matt rolled higher and that left Keith in Egizia, a game he didn’t want to play. Then someone pointed out that Keith would be facing Sorrel who still remained in 2nd on the leaderboard just 2 points behind Keith. This made the stakes really high. On a side note, Trevor who had been chasing Keith earlier in the tournament and who also happens to be really good at Egizia was also in the game. Keith proved that he deserved the title anyway though as he crushed once again and won a hard fought second title. I would say there were a few times where it was in danger but mostly he dominated.
Now that we have the story of the Champion out of the way I wanted to talk about some other great storylines that developed this year.
The Gods of Agricola:
Isaac Bingham and Sorrel Hatch are farmers from western Massachusetts who drove all the way to Kentucky to play in this tournament. The favorite game among them is obviously Agricola. The two practice it weekly and are very good at it. Isaac won the title in 2013, but in 2014 Sorrel dethroned him. After the tournament, when talking to a first year contender about his performance he said that he had done well at all the games he knew prior to the tournament except in Agricola, where he ran into what he called “The Gods of Agricola”. Sorrel and Isaac did finish 1st and 2nd in both versions of Agricola, and the title seems to fit. They also finished 2nd and 3rd overall in the tournament, which proved that farming games aren’t the only ones they are good at. Each of them won a game of Power Grid, and Isaac also picked up wins in Goa, and Princes of Florence, while Sorrel picked up a second in Settlers of Catan, and Lost Cities. This duo was quite the force in 2014, and proved that the 15-hour drive was worth it.
In the 2013 tournament, Isaac went up against his brother Tobiah three times and Tobiah came out ahead 2 of those 3 times, to best Isaac out in final placement, This year Isaac got the better of him winning in Power Grid in the 1st round in the brothers only meeting. Isaac did find himself playing against another top contender 3 times this year though. Over the tournament Isaac and Neil Mecham faced 3 times and had some very good, hard fought battles. Neil finished 2nd to Isaac in Power Grid but took Isaac’s Puerto Rico title in the 2nd round and in Round 5 Isaac came out ahead in Goa.
Despite the tournament having some new games and differences from 2013 to 2014, two things remained the same. Keith finished as the Champion and a Bignham brother finished in 2nd. The Gods of Agricola will remain a force in this tournament anytime they are in it.
The Young Guns:
In 2013 Brooke Mecham became the youngest player to play in the LIW tournament at 19. In 2014 two players were under that age. Steve Heid at age 18 and Joe Mecham at age 16 both played against older opponents. Despite the lack of experience compared to some of the other contenders these two held their own. Joe won in Settlers of Catan, and Steve pulled off a big win in Lords of Waterdeep. Both of these young players come from families with many siblings who play games, so they have been hardened up for the Lion in Winter level competition. I’m glad these two came and played, and I expect that in future years as they gain experience and knowledge of more games they will be a force in the tournament. As more and more players have to leave the tournament due to babies and other family and school commitments, these two appear to have their best gaming years ahead of them.
Chad Walker The Man:
Chad walker was one of the last entrees into the tournament and learned and played 6 games he had never played before during the tournament. I thought this was worth mentioning because that’s really fun and also really difficult to absorb that much information in two days, but he did it and finished 17th of 24. I think if he played again this man could be really dangerous and I look for him to be a top contender for the most improved award next year.
Hard fought losses:
Sometimes when you lose a game it doesn’t hurt as much as other times. Possibly games that you don’t win but that you are close to winning hurt more than ones where you get blown out. There were probably more hard fought losses than I noticed through all my rounds but there were a couple i noticed that I thought worth mentioning.
In Goa Neil Mecham tried really hard. Since Neil is pretty intelligent and generally does well in games, he is probably used to a good result when he tries really hard. The last few turns of Goa were pretty hectic for him as he tried to figure out the perfect way in the correct order to do everything he wanted to do. He figured it out. He got it right, he pulled it off and everything looked perfect. He played an excellent game, and despite having a lack of money (which some could say was his fault) the entire game, he managed to score 43 points which in some of Goa games is enough to win you the game; however, 2 players just played better. This loss hurt Neil, and I could tell, he was shaken by it. There were 4 good Goa players at that table and I think competition wise it may have been the most competitive game in the entire tournament. Losing to Jason F on the money tie breaker added extra sting to the loss. This was the game I witnessed that seemed to be the most devastating loss.
Greg Smith is one of the top Dominion players I know. He has seen every card and played hundreds of games by this point. He sees combos that others don’t see. He looks past false combos and sees where certain strategies come up short and knows how to play defensively too. He isn’t limited to a single strategy type. Anyone that plays against him regularly at game nights knows that he is always a threat to win at Dominion. Coming into the tournament Greg knew the level of competition and had played for 2 previous years and always finished somewhere in the top half of the field just outside the range of the leaders. This year Greg really just wanted to win in Dominion. He had a very solid record in Dominion games in 2014 and figured to at least win that round, and scrap together whatever other points he could get and make a run at the title. As things went south after round 3 with two last place finishes in Glen More and El Grande and a win in Terra Mystica, Greg still had the hope and consolation that at least he would win Dominion and be at 12 points which was squarely in the middle of the pack after 4 rounds. Not only did Greg come in 3rd he lost to his rival Elle, who has now pulled off back to back Lion in Winter titles in Dominion. Greg regularly beats Elle in Dominion at game night but perhaps the pressure of the tournament got to him and thus the Dominion title has eluded him once again. This was a tough loss for Greg. If I know Greg though he will use this as fuel and in 2015 be prepared to finally claim the elusive Dominion title.
Popular Games:
This year with 24 players we instigated a modified form of the bid system which allowed the two most popular games each round to carry over into the next round, and thus give players who didn’t get to play it another chance. With this it gave the players an opportunity to use even more strategy with their bids. Some players tried to bid up a game enough to get it into the next round but bid even more on another game this round so that they could wait to play a game until after the “ringers” had played. This was possible because no one who had played a game was allowed to bid on it the next round if it carried over. This worked to some extent and there were some key top matchups that were missed because of this. The 2012 Agricola champ didn’t get to face the 2013 and 2014 champs as a result and then Isaac and Keith missed each other in Princes of Florence. We also didn’t get to see Keith or Matt play in Puerto Rico despite them both being top players for that game. As far as popularity goes though the most popular game from 2013 again claimed the title of most popular game in 2014. Below are the 5 most bid on games in the tournament.
#1 Seven Wonders 124
#2 Lords of Waterdeep 91
#3 Dominion 89
#4 Stone Age 85
#5 Power Grid 73
Phoenix Rising:
There were 4 players in this years tournament that finished significantly higher than they did in their previous years in the tournament. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes If they keep improving at this same rate they will be right in amongst the leaders next year.
Austin Rathbone Finished 14 of 16 in 2013 with only 10 tournament points. This was 2 points a round over the 5 rounds of the tournament. In the year since the 2013 tournament Austin didn’t get a lot of experience playing games and I had figured he may not improve much as a result. He proved me and any doubters wrong. He started by finishing 2nd in El Grande, but then took a last place in Puerto Rico, then Saturday snagged 2 seconds, a first, and a third. This put him finishing with 20 tournament points in 6 rounds for an average of 3.33 points per round which is a solid 1.33 points per round higher than in 2013. This came in a field of more players and stiffer competition.
Chris McCurry didn’t play in the 2013 tournament, but did play 3 of the 4 rounds in 2012 and finished dismally. He obtained two last place finishes and a third in the now obsolete game of Citadels. Chris has had other things on his mind since then until in 2014 he decided that he would once again try his hand at the Lion in Winter tournament. This time though he would be prepared. He put his mind to work and put in the hours training in a select few games. The training paid off as Chris finished in 10th place overall and snagged wins in San Juan and Lost cities. He picked up a couple seconds in Carcassonne, and Dominion, and with a third in Kingsburg compiled 20 points to erase the former shame of his Lion in Winter record. Chris is already working to best that goal in 2015 so watch out the Phoenix is still rising.
Candace Mullins only had 6 points in 4 rounds played in 2013, but this year shattered that. She started out by snagging a 2nd in both Kingsburg and Stone Age the opening night, and had a respectable 8 points going into the 2nd day of the tournament. She started day two with two third place finishes in Carcassonne, and 7 Wonders, and then snagged a 2nd in Egizia and a third in Hansa Teutonica. Candace managed to pick up tournament points in every round by not having a single last place finish. This let her end up with 20 points for a rate of 3.33 points per round which is 1.83 points per round higher than in 2013.
Jason Fontonot finished dead last in 2013. He started out that tournament by finishing dead last in the first three rounds. I imagined that that must have been frustrating for him and figured that quite possibly he would never play again. Jason not only played again but also flourished in 2014. Jason only averaged .8 points per round in 2103 but managed to get 3 points per round in 2014 for an increase of 2.2 points per round. This was enough to win the award for most improved player. He started with 2 seconds and a 1st and was right in the mix. Then he took two fourths and another 2nd that put him finishing respectably at 13th of 24 players. Jason is another of the rising phoenix players in 2014.
Eduardo Ballestero (The Dragon):
Eduardo was one of the last players to enter the tournament and started out by finishing dead last in the first 3 games. For 2 of those games it was his first time playing them, and for Agricola he ran into “The Gods of Agricola” as he called them. After three rounds, Eduardo’s performance reminded me of Jason F’s experience in 2013; however, he kept up a great attitude and seemed happy learning new games and losing. Then the games that he knew started showing up, and Eduardo showed us all why he is no novice in board games. In three straight rounds Eduardo put together back to back to back wins in 7 Wonders, Dominion, and Hansa Teutonica. Two of the three games were among the top three most voted on games in the entire tournament so to pull this off makes Eduardo seem like a real threat in this tournament. It wasn’t enough to overcome his slow start but he did manage to finish 14th of 24, and establish himself as a real threat in this tournament for future years. For those of you that are Game of Thrones fans, if Keith sits in Kings Landing on the throne, and Isaac and Sorrel represent the threat north of the wall, and Neil is perhaps the king in the north (Ohio) and Matt M, Ben I, and Trevor have claims to the throne from the south such as Stannis and Renly, and the like, and Perhaps Jason P, Tobiah and the Heids represent a threat from the Iron Islands, Then Eduardo is perhaps Daenarys from the East with the Threat of Dragons.
The Fall of House Heid:
The Heid Family was once and perhaps still is the greatest gaming family I know. There are 8 siblings, and early on in college they introduced me to a family favorite Settlers of Catan. That began the interest in games for me that lead to this point. Not only do they know and enjoy some of the better games out there, they happen to be quite good at them. The Eldest brother of the family managed to even marry an excellent gamer to add to the Heid legacy. The first year of the Lion in Winter tournament they showed up in force. Phil the eldest brother dominated the tournament and took home the crown. His wife Katie wasn’t far behind in second, and Sarah who showed up late played for only 1 game and crushed the field in 7 Wonders. As the games went on it became apparent that these gamers were a step ahead of the rest of the field. Even annual contender and veteran Matt Musgrave was outclassed by the dominance of the Heids. I’ll get back to Matt later. In 2013 due to family and work commitments not a single Heid showed up. It just wasn’t a priority, and besides they hadn’t really had much competition when they did play, and probably faced tougher competition at weekly gaming afternoons at the eldest sister’s house after church. In 2014 The Heid family gave a mere wave at the tournament. Tournament legends Phil and Sarah made an appearance and watched a few games, but didn’t play because of commitments once again. The family did send two of the younger brothers to participate. Despite being younger than former tournament greats from the family, Andy and Steve are good gamers in their own right. Andy is solid in many games but lacked experience in enough games, and Steve has a surprisingly high record for winning games the first time he plays them. In 2014 The Heid family got ambushed in the Lion in Winter tournament. There were moments of greatness as can be expected from them, but this tournament has changed quite a bit since 2012 and the lack of experience in many games in the field was clearly an issue. Andy fought his way through some tough battles and grabbed some seconds and thirds and even scored a respectable 198 points in Castles of Burgundy, which was only enough for 4th place. He is very solid in Dominion especially at harnessing the Big Money strategy and that was enough for a second place. Steve’s brightest moment came when he won “Lords of Waterdeep” over two annual tournament contenders Jason Pisani and Ben Ibershoff. Overall though the Heid family didn’t live up to the legacy, as Andy finished 20th and Steve finished 22nd. In watching some of the games the two played I still have to say though that with a bit more experience in some of the games these two could be right in the mix next year. I mentioned that Matt Musgrave was outdone by Phil and Katie in 2012, and seeing Matt in the tournament in 2014 is a good measuring stick for how Phil and Katie stack up against the top contenders of 2014. Keith, Isaac, and Sorrel were all at or over 4 points ahead of Matt (who finished 4th btw), and in 2012 Phil and Katie were about that far ahead of him also when he finished 3rd. I think the biggest challenge for the Heid Family going forward will be to gain enough experience in enough games to be able to compete. As most people in the tournament will tell you, it is very difficult to win a game in the tournament when it’s your first time playing it no matter how good you are. In honesty I don’t think the Heids have fallen and they are great people and great gamers and I will always look forward to playing with them. I think that perhaps what we are seeing is the rest of the field catching up to them.
The Battle at the top:
Just below Keith and the rest of the top 3 there was a fierce competition among some of the tournaments top contenders, that I thought was worth mentioning. Matt Musgrave, Neil Mecham, Ben Ibershoff, Jason Pisani, Neil the Grey, and Trevor Oliver were all in a close battle for the spots just below the leaders.
Matt managed to distance himself from the pack by finishing with 24 points while the rest were in a 5 way tie. Matt did this despite losing both times he came up against Neil Mecham. Neil edged out the others for 5th overall at the top of the 5 way tie. He did this despite losing to Jason P in the only confrontation they had. Ben and Jason finished just behind Neil at a tie for 6th. They had the same exact number of tournament points and the exact same % of winning score. In the head to head matchup between them each one bested the other once. Ben finished ahead of Jason in Lords of Waterdeep, but Jason was ahead of Ben in Stone Age. Rookie of the year Neil the Grey was just behind them in 8th place. He went 1 and 1 against Jason P and lost to his son Neil in their only match. Trevor was 9th when it came down to the tiebreaker. After starting with 3 straight wins all on the porch all against players that didn’t finish in the top half of the standings. He only faced 1 other of the players in this 5 way tie as he was bested by Jason P in the 7 Wonders rematch from 2013.
Closure and wrap up:
In closing, I want to once again say thanks to everyone who came and played. It was really fun to run this tournament again and see all of you playing all the games. I have lots of ideas for the future of this tournament and the preparation in the year between now and the next one. I hope you will all consider playing again. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again good gamers are hard to come by and you are all welcome at my fire anytime. Until next time happy gaming.
The Lion in Winter: A Player’s Perspective
By: Chris McCurry
The Game is Always Changing
Three years ago, I played in my first Lion in Winter tournament. Back then it was only four rounds, and just 12 people played. But let me start a year, maybe two, before that.
Derek and I had recently quit playing Magic the Gathering competitively, a game that we both still love, and I credit for our friendship. For a while, after selling our cards and walking out with a fat stack of cash bulging in our pockets, we sustained our friendship and our desire for competition first with a mini-golf and then with Pokémon. If Magic had made us friends, the nights (15 and a half straight hours) we spent trying to crack the secret random number generate for producing perfect Pokémon and striving in the sun for hole-in-ones on the toughest greens in Kentucky’s Putt-Putt circuits made him a kind of brother in my eyes.
Life, in its miraculous and unruly way, gave me a child, a wife, and a full-time job. There was little time for old hobbies and less for new. As Pokémon failed to sustain our collective interest, Derek began playing more and more board games, hosting game nights and dancing. Always dancing. I was knuckle deep in baby poop and teaching my first year.
Still we hung out when we could, sometimes playing Magic, sometimes playing Pokémon, and playing board games increasingly. I even took a trip, this was before Abra was born, to play games for a weekend in Ohio with a good friend of Derek’s.
Thanks to the wonder of Facebook, I found a couple of messages that sum up this time period in our friendship,:
bad month or maybe good, or at least busier than i had planned. Also didn't want to interrupt new born time. I Think of you from time to time and i'm sorry were so distant. I think we both know it’s always all good between us. Sometimes life happens the way it does though.
And another that I found that takes place before the first Lion in Winter:
That's cool. you still doing boardgame nights?
skipped a few but had one Thursday and planning to next Thursday
Carcassonne and Catan have moved back up on my list
really?
Carcassonne. That game frustrated me.
That's true
Carcassonne is a good 2p game
Catan is perfectly made for 4 players
Dominion and Race for the Galaxy are still top 2 though
Small world/7wonders/Kingsburg are also getting some play
And one more because it makes me happy:
Hey man long time no contact...I assume your crazy busy with the Baby and School…Also....i recently started playing pokemon again...and i like it.
….we should try to find some time to hang out before we forget who each other are.
So, when Derek finally hosted the first Lion in Winter in his first apartment in Berea, I had a new daughter and a new job, had played a hand full of the games at least once and felt like a competent gamer. I got crushed. I don’t remember much. I know I played Dominion and Kingsburg and Citadels and that I left after the third round drained and disappointed and uninterested. There’s a message in the Facebook feed where I say something like “I had fun playing strategy games with you.” Meaning, I didn’t enjoy the first Lion in Winter or think that I would be returning to board games as hobby.
The next year past, the next Lion in Winter barely registered as event from my perspective. Derek and I had another hobby, disc golf, going at the time though, and so we saw each other regularly enough; then, life, in its cyclical and crazy way, brought Magic back into our lives. We started sitting at the table together again, working on strategy, deck building. Abra was older and I was a more competent teacher, so the opportunities began to grow once more.
By this time Derek had roommates and lived in the Rockcastle location. I played my first game of Seven Wonders and Thurn and Taxis with Austin and Candace. I got whooped, but I enjoyed the games. I enjoyed the company and meeting new people.
In 2014, I decided to play in the Lion in Winter a few months before the tournament. There still wasn’t much time or opportunity for me to learn many of the games, so I focused on a select few and practiced; I went to a Rooster Shoot Out; I fell in love with a few games, like Carcassonne, that had once frustrated me.
I went into the tournament with a few goals: win one round and finish in top ten. I also had a motto, inspired by my groomsmen (of which Derek was one) on the day of my wedding: The game is always changing.
Round 1: A Game with a Throne
I arrived from the north (Lexington) with Eduardo right after the player’s meeting, and after a few introductions and a little bit of catching up with friends and acquaintances I’d made over the years of hanging with Derek, the first round began. My first game was Kingsburg against Matt Musgrave, Candace Mullins, and Chad Smith. Kingsburg wasn’t my top pick. I’d played the game only three times before and the most recent game had been the first ever LIW tournament. Sitting down with Candace and Matt threw my strategy of staying away from ringers until later rounds right out the window, too. Not knowing Chad or his caliber, but knowing you have to be pretty serious to drive more than 4 or more hours to play games, I felt like I was the guy who showed up to a gunfight with a one of those knives that are really just combs.
After bidding on the special character cards, the game was underway. Though I’d forgotten many of the finer points of the game, I understood to maximize my ability to influence the advisers and to make efficient use of my resources. I began building toward the Manor, a track from the expansion that allowed me to get double the reward for a victory over the invading forces. Candace maximized her flexibility ability by staying behind on buildings, earning the king’s envoy and an extra die at the start of the season, Matt, plagued by low rolls took the lead in victory points by staying ahead on buildings, and Chad was working an inn to farm strategy.
The camaraderie at the table increased as we battled each other and the colored tokens changed places on the board leaving Matt in the lead, followed by Candace, then me and Chad. The final points were such that any one move by any other player could have bumped them a position, the sign of a good game played by all.
Round 2: An Accidental Cheater Cheats Himself
I got into Stone Age in the second round, where I met Candace again and two people I didn’t know: Joe and Bryce. As far as I could tell, Bryce had never played the game and Joe had played a lot. Once again, I was sitting next to a game night juggernaut (Candace), and so I mentally prepared myself to get beat while trying to act all nonchalant. I had played this game more recently, but only on the IPad. It has maybe one of the most intuitive and user friendly interfaces of any board game app, so I took a liking to it. I’d played maybe 30+ games against the computer, making me comfortable with the mechanics and basic level strategy.
Long story short: I got smoked. At one point I remember thinking, I’m doing really well. This based mainly on the fact that I had 7 science cards and ignoring the fact that I had no multipliers, something I always made sure to get in my battles against the computer. While I was busy hording my science, everyone else was busy hording multipliers for their strongest track. Joe had the chisels, Bryce the people, and Candace had the buildings (and some ag mixed in somewhere, too, I think). When the final count came in I was found lacking.
It was later discovered that for some part of the end game, hazy from the day, I had moved Candace’s piece once or maybe a few times, instead of my own. The end result is hard to say, 1st (Bryce) and 2nd(Candace) were so far out in front of Joe and I that it wouldn’t have impacted their standings, but maybe, just maybe I could have had 3rd.
Round 3: A Chance for Redemption
At night, while putting Abra to bed, I’d play Carcassonne while patting her back. I must have gotten in over 200 games against a computer that runs the numbers and always finds a way to trap your meeples. I knew if I kept my play tight I would have a good chance of taking my first first of the tournament, depending on who would show up.
An early chat and prior knowledge of Candace’s prowess, all but guaranteed I’d be seeing her, but seeing Matt again was unexpected and unsettling. I’ve never beat Matt in a board game, and (spoiler alert) I still haven’t. My first match against Joe went well. Joe, a solid gamer in his own right, but had not the nightly experience that I had accumulated and I moved on to play Matt. The game was tight for the most part, put Matt pulled ahead by closing two key cities, one of which I had contested and tried to block, but he drew the last remaining tile (after I had drew the other 6) that closed it and scored the points. The last match against Candace was a nail biter, coming down to a gut wrenching miscalculation of pieces in an otherwise flawless game that cost her the game. She had already beat Matt in match one and Joe in the second, so I felt lucky to get the win.
That left a 3 way tie for first and after tiebreakers, Matt took first, Candace second, and I walked away with a satisfying 3rd.
Round 4: A Dent in the Armor
When not playing Carcassonne on my phone, I played San Juan. When the names were called for the game there was something expected and unexpected. I heard through the grapevine that Tobiah was solid and a contender to take first, and I actually thought I might see him in Carcassonne, so I was prepared for a tough fight there. I did not expect to see tournament front runner and reigning champ Keith Dent in the game, nor his wife Heather, who was a wild card.
After randomly determining who would play who, I squared off against Tobiah. My opening hand had no card higher than 2, so I fell into a rush strategy that had Tobiah on his heels, most of the game, but even so, I barely managed to squeak out the win by one point after connecting my production with the Guild Hall.
In the middle of Tobiah’s and my first game, I happened to look over at Keith and Heather as they started their game. Everything appeared to be going normally, but after doing a double take I noticed that they had started the game without the required indigo in play. Both of them were rolling on a single Coffee production strategy. Knowing Keith was the front-runner, I don’t feel bad saying now, that I smelled blood in the water, seeing a weakness, and a chance to deal a blow to a king.
My next match was against Heather, who had just learned the game, but one of the many lessons I’ve learned since I began to game is not to underestimate a player. Heather poked holes in the assumptions I had built by only playing a computer. I had to deviate from my plan in order to accommodate a pair of runaway Coffee productions. Luckily, I scooped up a market hall and a Silver producer that allowed me to keep up and take the game.
While I was busy playing Heather, Tobiah was busy playing Keith. I didn’t get to watch the game closely. By the end of it, Tobiah had taken the victory and laid low a giant so I could make the death blow.
The game was tight. Again, I was up against double Coffee, early this time and without a Market Hall. Like Heather, he worked the Chapel in to make maximum use of his hand size and abundance of cards. In the end, it came down to the six casting cost cards. Without the City Hall, I came up one point short of Keith.
And in a unexpected, turn of events, Heather took Tobiah out in her third game. I was on the winning end of the tie-breakers this time, scoring my first first of the tournament and helping to prove that Keith was indeed mortal.
Round 5: Big Money
I told myself I would not play Dominion. Too many good players. Too many cards I was unfamiliar with. When it rolled into the fifth round, my weakest round, I decided that it was better to play a game that I knew, but hadn’t mastered, than learn a game.
I sat down with Eduardo, Joe, and Trevor. Trevor had just come from an upset in the Seven Wonders round that Eduardo had won. He seemed on edge and ready to get down to business. Eduardo, well, a dragon was never nicer or ready to eat you alive.
I got second in both games. Joe took the first one with big money into province, I strung together a Peddler into province strategy just before Eduardo could do the same. He finished 3rd in the first game and Trevor, unable to get his synergy online before the last province was sold, finished 4th.
In the second game, we played with all cards I’d never seen before. I struggled to piece together a strategy that made since, while Eduardo went big money into Colonies this time. The deck I threw together allowed me to buy a couple of Colonies though and when Eduardo was done showing us how it was done, I was left with just enough points to take second away from Trevor with Joe finishing 4th.
The standings from the two games left a tie for first between Eduardo and I. On tie-breakers Eduardo got it thanks to his resounding first place finish in the second game.
Round 6: Fear and Loathing in Lost Cities
This game was also on my phone, but I didn’t play it hardly as much. For one, the computers were too easy. The first time I played Derek, I realized that I had been playing against a computer that was half as good as the LIW players would be, so I left it alone. Still in the last round of the tournament, I was once again afraid of going into a game I didn’t know. I also knew that we would have to leave before midnight, so getting into a longer game, even if I knew it , might result in a forfeit.
I played Austin, Joe, and Jason. The games were wild. I hardly knew what I was doing most of the time and the points showed a wild fluctuation between games. I felt like sitting down again, I couldn’t produce the same results even if the cards came the same. The theme of learning from real-life players continued as each opponent showed me something new.
In the last round, when I was 2-0, up against Austin, I was convinced he was throwing away the game by discarding mid level cards and playing down a bunch of colors without multipliers, but he trapped me with a bunch of tracks I couldn’t complete with multipliers and took that game.
Had we not played the last two games at lightning speed so that I could leave, Austin would have probably taken me out. The match ended with me being two points ahead. A tight margin for a Lost Cities game.
The Accidental Cheater
The legacy of the Accidental Cheater was passed down to me from Tobiah and a prophecy was made on Facebook by me..Playing with an extra Meeple in Carcassonne is a legend that the bards still sing about. Still, I made my mark, moving other people’s token on the victory track in Stone Age. In San Juan, I switched two of the scores on the scorecard which Heather caught, and in Dominion, I forgot to put a copper and estate in my discard pile for one round (but it went in before I had to shuffle and draw…I’m pretty sure). There is no honor in being a cheater, but when done accidentaly it can be humorous, and since the Game of Thrones allusions are thick, I’ll happily give myself the title of the Lion in Winter Fool. You see, I have a habit of moving quickly. Derek will attest to this from our Magic playing. Sometimes I’ll leave out a key part of the card mechanic or gloss over a step or trigger. I’m not proud of this, just aware and trying to improve. I hope to pass the motley award on next year, for sure.
The Man, The Legend, The Lion in Winter
The man is a gangly six-foot floor stomping, card-slinging, frisbee whipping dervish, liable to cut a man down just as quick as he would teach him something new about the world. Legend has it he rode in one day started a fire and people started showing up. He made space for them, made the fire bigger, stoked it and fed it, taught people how to do the same when he is gone back into the darkness. He doesn’t suffer anything but greatness but can see it in the smallest actions: the accidental, the best sport. He talks of dragons and kings and the great houses of old and new. He teaches that you can’t play your best game unless your opponent is also playing theirs; that there are many paths to victory but victory without honor is failure; that fire draws the people, but the people bring the warmth. He’s the Lion in Winter. We, I, have him to thank for a great a weekend, for new friends, glorious battles, and stories that won’t be forgotten, legends that leave us wanting more.