Greetings all who did and did not make it to 2000 worlds. Here is my take on the weekend with more detailed standings in the events:
I arrived on the Wednesday afternoon in Amsterdam and took the scenic route to meet Arco downtown thanks to bad directions from the train ticket lady.
My first meal back in the Netherlands had to be a dinner of patat and kroket (fries with euro mayonnaise and a deep fried sausage looking thing with gravy and meat stuffing). I felt like a flying dutchman again! The remainder of that night was written off to jet lag recovery and administrative stuff.
Thursday was a day for deck testing with Arco. I think his eyes must be permanently crossed after that ordeal. We also met up with Josh Grace, Oskar Silow, Daniel Spronk, Wanja Hargens, Georg Kuhlmeyer, Christian Bendgens, and Patrick "Last Question" Laxander. We wandered the streets of downtown and "they" settled on Chinese food. Whoopie! :P
Friday was soon upon us and Worlds 2000 was beginning. Two events took place this day: the open 2-deck qualifier and the sealed deck for everyone else. A strong field of 18 players participated in the open to try to advance into the semi finals on Saturday or just to enjoy some 2-deck general opponent competition. 14 players joined in on the sealed deck side event.
Time constraints limited the open to 4 rounds. Most people enjoyed the shortened format. The alignments were varied. Competition was tense and relaxed at different times and at different areas of the field but no one came away not having fun. By the last two rounds, most players found what they had come to find. The top 5 players qualified for the semi finals for sure but the next few didn't know until the turn out of prequalifiers the next day. After the dust settled, the final standings from the open were: (please excuse the spelling, but it it's wrong, work on your hand writing ;)
1. Oliver Hofmann gmn
2. Erwin Amann gmn/austria
3. Heiner Viefaves gmn
4. Dennis Voss gmn
5. Markus Deidrich gmn
6. Birk Pfeiffer gmn
7. Wim Heemskerk nl
8. Mantijn van Leeuwen nl
9. Edwin de Vries nl
10. Simone de Ruyter nl
11. Frank Terveen nl
12. Dennis ter Haar nl
13. Bartje van Leeuwen nl
14. Michael Brocker gmn
15. Robert van Grieken nl
16. Kees Schipstra nl
17. Paul Loakes uk
18. Sicco Bessem nl
The sealed deck was not necessarily more casual as most of the players involved were prequalified for the semi finals. Some novice players joined in like Christian from Germany, who only came to Worlds to watch and trade. I'm guessing he was glad that he played since he pulled a one ring. There were some interesting match ups in the sealed deck that brought about roaring laughter throughout the day. One such match up was between Oskar Silow and Joe Bisz when Joe managed to kill My Precious at his home site even when his stats were 7/10 plus a roll! This proved to be a bit of foreshadowing for the semis. The results of the sealed deck were:
1. Michael Forsstrom fin
2. Wanja Hargens gmn
3. Georg Kuhlmeyer gmn
4. Oskar Silow sweden
5. Patrick "Last Question" Laxander gmn
6. Rob van Ganswinkel nl
7. Tommo Tomkinson uk
8. Dan "Norway" Colley uk
9. Josh Grace usa
10. Jean-Paul Keulen nl
11. Joe Bisz usa
12. Patrick Kubrat gmn
13. Joern Licht gmn
14. Christian Bendgens gmn
The players separated into their own groups and found food among the plethora of international cuisine options in Amsterdam. The representatives of The Guild of Crippled Masters, Josh Grace, Oskar Silow, and myself, found stomach filling food in a "kitsch" Indian restaurant after we picked up Magnus Adermark of Sweden from the train station. That night, we learned that middle earth players have strong stomachs.
Saturday saw 3 events: the semi finals, a sealed deck, and middle earth the drinking game. The semi finals settled on 26 participants with 19 prequalified players and 7 advancing players from the open. All alignments were represented but the balrog was the dominant alignment hands down as expected.
I drew Georg, last year's world champion, for my first opponent. My bad luck with first round match ups at big competitions reared its ugly head again. Surprise... surprise. I was playing regular minion versus Georg's balrog. I felt pretty good until I rolled snakes on a crucial corruption check on turn 2! Things went downhill from there but it didn't stop me from having a great time with Georg. I also managed to learn a few cheezy loophole tricks from the worthy champion. 0-6
The second round was a fun one. Then again, all my games are fun because I make it fun and don't let anything stop it from being so. Joe Bisz was the lucky candidate. This was his opportunity to get his revenge in a rematch with me since I was the only one in last year's Council of Lorien final to stop him from dunking. This time I was able to make my deck to work well and combined with the fact that I've faced his deck before, it wasn't looking good for Joe. When he made his final run to Mount Doom in turn 3, he marvels tolded one of the two Mordor in Arms already in play, sucked it up, and faced the other one like a brave hobbit with all his feet hair intact... at that point. ;) After a lot of blood shed, I had my opportunity to play my first hazard. Unfortunately for Joe, it was another Mordor in Arms ;) I had several opportunities to do the Village People's "body... body, body... got some body" chant just like at the CoL Championships. I'm very popular now in the Shire for all the wrong reasons. 6-0
My third round was with Patrick "Last Question" Laxander. I call him "Last Question" because he always claimed that his questions regarding worlds that he asked me over email was always the "last question". Of course, there was no end to the questions. This was one of those games where both of our hazard decks clicked. Being both minion players, Patrick the balrog, it didn't result in too much of a blood bath but neither of us could do much resource-wise. He did get quite familiar with Gandalf the White Rider several times though. ;) In the end, he was able to fill is kennel with wolves while my characters needed to learn how to increase their work ethic. 1-5
Round four was with Michael Forsstrom, one of my floormates at Arco's. he was playing hero and, luckily for me, he wasn't looking to beat me down in cvcc. I can't quite remember exactly what happened in this game except that he had interesting hazards versus minions. One event that did stand out is when his company got attacked by his own enhanced Spider of the Morlat attacks when he tried to avoid the Mordor in Arms attacks on the other side of Mordor. Sauron embraces you with his love in strange ways. 4-2
The fifth and final round of the semis paired me with Arjan Schipstra. I was blessed enough to be able to play with one of the famous Schipstra brothers. Unfortunately, it wasn't with the morannon deck that they so desperately wanted to see. This was another one of my games that my evil card engine scheme, spawned from the evil minds of the crazy brits, was able to work like it was supposed to. On the hazard side, I got one of those fluky draws where you draw the hazard card you sideboard immediately. It appeared that Arjan's company of Celeborn, Thrain, and Gloin I believe were going to come to "Unhappy Blows". My first high roll saw Gloin leave the bickering party. That proved to be an unwise choice of character for my opponent as the Mouth of Sauron decreed that there were still Unhappy Blows within that party. A consecutive high roll saw the departure of one of the two bigger characters. Lucky for me that Legolas and Gimli weren't involved or I would be burnt to a crisp from all the ensuing flames. ;) This one devastating movement/hazard phase put a major damper on Arjan's deck and I was able to come out victorious. 4-2
I'm sure there are plenty of other interesting stories out there that some players are willing to share, and some have. One interesting turn of events was Oskar Silow dropping out of the semi finals halfway through while doing well just to play in middle earth the drinking game. I guess we all are driven by different things. For Oskar, alcohol seems to be one of his things. :) The final results of the semi finals were:
1. Georg Kuhlmeyer gmn
2. Patrick Kubrat gmn
3. Wanja Hargens gmn
4. Joern Licht gmn
5. Steve Cantens belgium
6. Oliver Hofmann gmn
7. Josh Grace usa
8. Heiner Viefhues gmn
9. Dan Colley uk
10. Patrick "Last Question" Laxander gmn
11. Jean-Paul Keulen nl
12. Dennis Voss gmn
13. Brian "No Cheeze" Wong canada
14. Tommo Tomkinson uk
15. Michael Forsstrom fin
16. Wim Heemskerk nl
17. Arjan Schipstra nl
18. Ewout Deurwaarder nl
19. Markus Diedrich gmn
20. Joe Bisz usa
21. Maarten van der Burgt nl
22. Erwin Amann gmn/austria
23. Birk Pfeiffer gmn
24. Magnus Adermark sweden
25. Luc Schruers belgium
26. Oskar Silow sweden
The sealed deck went smoothly with Arco lending a hand to run it. From what I heard, it was plenty of fun. I think I speak for all the players when I say that I wish I could have participated in every single one of the events if it was humanly possible. The results of the sealed deck were:
1. Simone de Ruyter
2. Mantijn van Leeuwen
3. Bartje van Leeuwen
4. Arco den Boer
5. Edwin de Vries
6. Kees Schipstra
7. Angelique Bowwman
8. Robert van Grieken
9. Dennis ter Haar
10. Christian Bendgens
11. Sicco Bessem
The middle earth the drinking game event that started just after the sealed deck and was attended by all those available with strong constitutions. This was the event which Oskar Silow dropped out of the semi finals to attend. Apparently, he wasn't the only person who was excited to see him participate. Daniel Spronk instituted a new rule just so that he could play against Oskar. He drank a litre of beer to drop his tournament points down to the level of the opponent he wanted to face. His enthusiasm paid off in lots of fun but not in tournament results as Oskar succeeded in his efforts to "spank the Spronk". Battles of swigging and gulping were fierce with seasoned drinking participants such as Christian from Germany, Arco from The Netherlands, and even Paul "Barliman Butterbur" Loakes from the UK. In the end, no one could topple the alcohol king from Sweden. The final results were:
1. Oskar Silow
2. Kees Schipstra
3. Arco den Boer
4. Sicco Bessum
5. Daniel "I hold an Australian passport" Spronk
6. Paul "Barliman Butterbur" Loakes
7. Bartje van Leeuwen
8. Christian Bendgens
9. Angelique Bowwman
That Saturday evening continued with a walking tour of Amsterdam by Angelique through the rain. The Guild of Cripple Masters along with Daniel and Magnus ended up getting lost in the Red Light District. I have no idea how that happened. ;) We found food at an Egyptian food stand where Daniel would call out to the employees, "OI, GARCON!" The festivities were heightened with an interesting twist when we were mauraded by a gang of cute, drunk girls from a touring soccer/football team. Oh, the horror! ;)
Suspiciously onto the next day.... I received an interesting phone call in the morning from Georg. He was unable to make the finals due to a mysterious stomach illness. This would break up the all German finals and Georg's chances of repeating as Steve Cantens from Belgium was more than happy to take his place as the alternate. A two hour drive later and mad, last minute meta "I know your deck" gaming changes proved to add an interesting twist to the otherwise cheeze fling fest of the final round of worlds.
The finals were started simultaneously with two other events: booster draft and middle earth the drinking game booster draft. Oliver Hofmann and Paul Loakes were both kind enough to help me with the logistic timing of the finals. Very few questions were thrown my way as those players were at a calibre that they could work things out themselves for the most part. This allowed me the pleasure of getting hosed in MEtDG in more ways than one.
The draft itself was very interesting as I was seated next to Patrick "Last Question" Laxander and he succeeded to pull all the cards he needed to dunk The One Ring including the ring itself. The only problem is that I was drafting many of the key cards that he needed to do it smoothly: Bilbo, Frodo, Sam Gamgee etc. I also had the opportunity to draft Mount Doom but that would have been downright nasty so I let him have it. ;) Luc on my other side was getting the benefits of my drafting style by pulling off a couple of dragon desolations and two unique dragons. I didn't do so badly myself by pulling off a morgul horse, witch-king of angmar, pale sword combo on someone.
Most people's decks played very well with Patrick almost dunking a couple of times and other cool combos pulled off. I went through at least one litre of beer per game. For those who know me, a three round tournament at this rate does not bid well for my constitution. Markus D. was nice enough to let me run a tab until next year for our last round game. The final result depended on the game between Oskar the Swede and Michael the Finn. The barkeep must have had a big smile on her face when Oskar attempted to initiate company versus company combat. The two seasoned drinkers would drink back and forth, one initiation cvcc and the other canceling, for several litres until they both realized that they could both go on until they ran out of money. Michael conceded the attack but Oskar missed the body check on his wizard. Regardless, Sweden still retains the crown of the MEtDG Champion. The final results were:
1. Oskar Silow
2. Luc Schruers
3. Michael Forsstrom
4. Daniel Spronk
5. Josh "I roll my dice across the room when I'm drunk" Grace
6. Michael Brocker
7. Markus Deidrich
8. Jean-Paul "Bearer of the R2-D2 socks of power" Keulen
9. Brian "Green Gills" Wong
10. Arco "I'm so drunk I don't know I'm getting my butt kicked" den Boer
11. Magnus "I'll hit you over your head with my thing" Adermark
The players from the regular booster draft were patient enough to be able to complete their event amongst all the drunkards on the tables next to them. Too busy trying not to fall over, I can only report their results:
1. Erwin Amann
2. Wim Heemskerk
3. Ard van Kessel
4. Joe Bisz
5. Simone de Ruyter
6. Christian Bendgens
The finals went a little longer than it was supposed to due to a deck list glitch that resulted in a replayed game. There were two balrog, one fallen gandalf, and one one ring hero deck. Wanja and Patrick were looking strong in the start until Patrick ran into what he called the "anti Patrick" deck that Wanja had created the night before. Patrick was able to recover in the third and last round with a strong win against Joern but the final result boiled down the replayed game between Steve Cantens of Belgium and Joern Licht of Germany. If Steve was able to dunk in this game, he would take it all by surpassing Patrick Kubrat's eleven tournament points.
This final game was very intense and stressful. Joern dispatched two companies, one to gather points and the other to continuously attack Steve's company in cvcc. Unfortunately, Joern was unable to make any of his body checks count except for the death of Steve's wizard. However, this kill did manage to put a major dampener on the ring test roll. The only Test of Form was sideboarded in and the fateful roll was made... eleven! The One had been found and the surviving corruption check at Mount Doom was successful. Steve Cantens was pronounced our new reigning world champion with his very own replica of The One Ring and plenty of other booty (sorry, no cute, drunk soccer girls).
In conclusion, everyone enjoyed themselves during this weekend of festivities at the 2000 Middle Earth World Championships. There were fun, laughs, excitement, food and drink, prizes, new friendships, and long lasting memories. I would like to sincerely thank:
Arco den Boer for his generous commitment in time, space, and money. He is truly a class act that lends to the good reputation that Middle Earth players benefit from around the world.
Wim Heemskerk, the Council of the Isles of the Dead that Live, and its members for hosting this event in their own beautiful back yard. Wim's efforts in promoting the game and this event in his own country are second to none.
J.R.R. Tolkien and the creators of MECCG, without which this game would not even had existed.
The people and players who supported this event as something great that could happen regardless of I.C.E. Their positive support and constructive criticism will keep this game surviving just as well as other games that are no longer produced but still have decent player bases.
I consider this weekend a great success and wish for all future Middle Earth World Championships to be even more successful.
Thank you and see you next year,
Brian "No Cheeze" Wong,
2000 MECCG World Championships Coordinator
Council of Elrond Co-Netrep
Proud Member of The Guild of Crippled Masters