It’s been a long time coming, but now that I have returned home from the Month of Conventions, I finally have time to write up a proper report of the Gen Con Championship tournament. Overall, the three tournaments held at Gen Con were all fantastic. Since I missed last year, this was my first chance to see so many EVE players in one place, and I have to say, I was impressed.
The attitude surrounding the event was overwhelmingly positive, and the competition was tense but friendly. Everyone was there to win, to be sure, but no one was willing to forgo having a good time to do it. The banter flowed freely during each round, and talk about local play styles and comparisons of card collections filled the time between games. Being shut in a room with forty-five other people for over six hours has never been so enjoyable.
The lead-up to the championship started out rowdy. The excitement had been building through two other days’ events, and everyone was ready to get down to the business of playing. Everyone arrived in small batches, usually two or three at a time, and immediately got to work filling out their deck registration sheets. Pétur and Rob (the other two judges for the tournament) prepared the tables while I organized the registration, and after only a short delay, all forty-one players were signed in and ready to play.
The first round went smoothly, and everyone seemed to be having fun, but I could tell they were quietly concerned about the prizes. I had told them before we began that the prizes would be mostly cash, but had yet to reveal the distribution. When it was revealed the cash was going to be spread to all players, regardless of their final standings, the tension broke and thoughts were turned back to the games at hand.
All five rounds passed very quickly, with only a handful of matches requiring extra rounds to resolve. Every CEO in attendance was at the top of his/her game, and it showed. Tension crept back into the room towards the end of the fourth round, and in lieu of official postings, many of the front-runners furiously calculated scores and records in an effort to determine what was required of them to make it into the top eight. Round five passed quickly (it felt faster to me than any of the others), and when the dust cleared, the tournament software was hard-pressed to name the top eight. In many cases, not only were several players’ scores tied, but also their resistance percentages (the numbers used to break ties), leaving the program to default to simple win percentages to decide ranking. It was a tough five rounds, but in the end, these eight players, in order of their pairings, moved to the finals:
You can click on the name of each player to view their decklist in our Deck Discussion Forums.
As the first round of the finals began, Rob and Pétur were left to judge the matches while I handed out prize money. The air was filled with discussions about the tournament, and how matches could have gone differently but for one little thing, but any remorse felt was quickly dispelled when I began announcing rankings and prize amounts.
By the time the room had cleared of most of the other players, and I was able to give my full attention over to the finals, the first round was nearly over. After barely enough time to snap a few pictures, it was over, and only Thomas, Doug, Patrick and Ian were left to move on to the second round.
The atmosphere around the play tables intensified as the finals progressed, but the four remaining players maintained the high level of sportsmanship I had witnessed during the day. Jokes were cracked, potential strategies were hinted at, and when Ian and Patrick moved on to face each other for the grand prize, even their former opponents were eager to see the outcome of the match.
The first game of the match was quickly awarded to Patrick, but Ian retaliated with a win in the second game. They put on a good show, alternating between slow deliberation and rapid-paced action, and I was not sure who would emerge victorious, right up to the very end. After nearly an hour of play, Patrick’s Gang-Green proved to be simply too insidious to be taken down by Ian’s Sledge Hammer.
Gen Con was a lot of fun for me. Even though I managed to only find time for two games the whole weekend, watching you all in action at the tournament, and speaking with you about the game afterwards, made it all worthwhile. The community that has sprung up around this game is incredible, and I can’t see myself enjoying any other card game as much as I do this one. Thanks, everyone, for playing, and I hope to see you all again next year!
