Worlds 2001 - A Report

 
Worlds 2001 were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on Aug 24-26 (Friday-Sunday)

The info page of the organizing committee has now become the official report page of Worlds 2001. You will (soon) find the reports of many people there as well as a large archive of pictures of the event. For this site we have selected the report of the fresh World Champion, Brian Wong from Canada. The pictures we added mainly show the Dutch present. [Hover your pointer over each picture for details.]

Brian Wong's Report

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Unfortunately, I missed the Sunday brunch with the rest of the players due to a desperate need for sleep.  Also, I needed the extra time to
anti-Joe-ify my deck.  ;-)  I really didn't make many changes since I usually do poorly in finals when I do.  The Jimmy Chen's Room contingent arrived just in time for the Worlds Finals and the North American National's Opens.  While I wiped the meatball sub sauce from my face, I prepared to face my first opponent.

First round with Nicolas a.k.a. "Big Red" of France and his Balrog Pyro deck:
Hey!  That's my deck!  Oh well, at least we didn't bounce characters.  I knew that a good Balrog deck didn't need The Balrog to win but it sure helps.  I hoped that the deck cuts were favourable for me but they weren't. He got the Hog and he started breeding losers almost immediately. Meanwhile, I burned down the free people's homes as fast as I could even while combatting a Plague or two.  My two accompanying losers died but my 3 big guys did fine.  My factions rolls were less than favourable but I was able to slow Big Red down by eating some of his characters with Bairanax Ahunt.  It didn't matter much, he had a cloning machine in the under-deeps anyways.  The game was close and it came down to the last turn with me attempting to influence his only faction, Orcs of Moria, so that mine would double.  I even had +2 to my roll, but a 4 with the moose dice wasn't enough, nor was my revealing of two unique cards.  27-31  (2-4).

Btw, I call him Big Red because on the first day, he wore a very red shirt and he's very big.

Second round with John Yost of New York and his hero "Surprise!  It's really a One Ring deck" deck:
John started with Elrond and two elf rangers, a potential big elf beat down company.  Hmmm.... I went first and with no prowess helpers besides a Swift Strokes in my hand, I stayed at Moria and played chicken.  He used his first turn to go to Carn Dum and play.... (I'm thinking Cheezecrist or Cheezebane but not)... Scroll of Isildur?!!!  Aha!  The sharade was over and my trolls felt ever so confident now.  They shed their Depends and went merrily about burning everything down. Weeee! 

Meanwhile, the elven parties departure from Carn Dum found themselves with an encounter with something smelly and it wasn't my Red Sock of Power. Ren the Unclean attacked and Gildor stepped up to the plate, using "My" moose dice... wounded.  Body check with "My" moose dice... dead.  The Mouth then asked if Ren could come out and play again and he replied, "Heck, why not!" One of the elf brothers then stepped up to avenge Gildor with, <ahem>, "My" moose dice... wounded.  Body check with "My" moose dice... dead.  Well well,
Elrond's all alone now with the Scroll.  I wonder how long it is before he get's stupid too.  It wasn't long but it was after one of my loser Hill Trolls got wounded by an unenhanced Brigands using, yes, "My" moose dice. Man, they suck!  Well, after Elrond got stupid and ran away, there wasn't much for Radagast and his new pet Gollum to do.  6-0 for me.

Now with the final round looming, it was time for some serious math skills. What did I need?  What do they need?  Bah!  Just beat Joe! That'll be too much fun in itself!  ;-)

Third and final round with Joe "Girly-Lips" Bisz of New York and his cheezy Fallen Pallando thingy:
We both knew a win was important so we both focussed intensely.  Thanks Chad for taking the rules questions away from me.  I'd been hearing that Joe rolls really high as opposed to "My" crappy moose dice so I decided to use his dice the whole game... good choice.  His movement engine got wounded on their first turn and died on their way back to heal with bodies of  9 and 8. Nice dice!

As for my company, I received another "Joe hand" and got my trolls big really fast.  They did their pyro thing as usual and ignored CVCCing Joe's companies till later.  The trolls were also a bit busy swatting away the elves that Joe was throwing my way.  They were able to kill a Galadhrim to add to their list of kills for the weekend: Elf-Lord, Ent, and Galadhrim! So, as usual, later came sooner than expected and a lone Gloin with a War-Wolf was just asking for a visit from my uglies so I obliged.  Besides, I had the Warg-King in my hand to play anyways.  So much for him being able to cancel the attack the conventional way.  ;-)  Well, after some prowess boosters, I had +9 to each of my rolls and easily made a rug of the War-Wolf and Sacked Gloin Over the Head for some style points instead of kill points.

Joe's last turn heroics saw a lone Nain run to Himring for Durin's Axe but unfortunately, he's afraid of bears too.  He rejoined his only company which included a Fallen Pallando ready and prepped to influence 4 mps worth of factions. Nain grabbed onto Pallando's ankles, quivered, and wimpered, "Hold me!  Please hold me!" Pallando, the sap that he is for short hairy men, obliged and ended up doing nothing at the site.  The points were tallied... 29-15  (5-1 for me).

That put me at 13 tournament points, 12 for Big Red, 11 for Joe, and 0 for John, thus avoiding the possible 3 way tie for first.  Woohoo!  The Guild of Crippled Masters reigns supreme!  Jimmy Chen, the tournament coordinator, announced the final placings and an electric roar filled the room that I'll never forget!  Thanks guys and gals!

The Worlds Organizing Committee did a fantastic job of making sure everyone had a great time.  I certainly had a blast as expected.  All of my opponents were more of playing partners than opponents.  I learned lots of new tricks from Bill Kenyon as usual.  Congratulations to Josh Grace, another Guild Member, for winning the North American Nationals.  Congratulations to the U.K. team for winning the Country Cup. Congratulations to everyone else who needs or wants congratulating.

The burden of The One Ring always comes with the obligatory Lure of Retirement.  All the former World Champions have succumbed to it but I have a lot more than a Friend or Three as Wim mentioned and have shaken that Lure.  Thanks to everyone who sends their well wishes and congratulations.  I look forward to many years of MeCCG and increasing my list of friends within this great community.  Now if only I can get rid of the Lure of a Fat Head. ;-)

Your Cheezeless World Champion,
Brian "No Cheeze" Wong

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

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