This will be a report in two sections: first from the head judge, Chris Burns, and then from me, Erik Brann. What an amazing freaking day! On Saturday, May 13th The Knight's Quest in Gardner, MA held it's Race to Volturnum global storyline tournament. I was expecting about 20 ... MAYBE 30 people at most. Was I ever surprised at the whopping 43! That's right. Forty-three people showed up to a middle of nowhere town in MA to play in our store's RtV tournament. This is VERY cool. And slightly intimidating. Erik Brann, the TO, was getting people registered and put into the DCI Reporter program, while I, as head judge, did a deck check. Good thing Erik had printed out the Jade Strict list from the website the night before, who knew that Corrupt Gold Mine had been reprinted (not me!). Once we were ready, Erik announced the initial pairings and then turned the tournament over to me (he got to play the lucky stiff!). About five minutes after the initial pairings were announced (we had to find a bit more table space and some extra chairs) the games begun. I took a seat in my portable camping chair of comfort and waited to year someone scream "Judge!". Only happened on a few quick rules questions in the beginning of the tournament, but it was pretty smooth. Overall Round 1 was a success. And so were the following five rounds. That's right. Six rounds of Swiss. With so many people showing up we really didn't have much of a choice. So six rounds and a final sixteen had to be done. And I really, Really, REALLY have to thank the players for making things go like clockwork. Erik's standing policy is ten minutes between rounds to catch your breath (more often than not we get two or three games going to time). I cut that to five minutes between round 1 and 2, and when round 2 was over asked everyone if they wouldn't mind me just going from round to round ... no one was against it and we moved right along. The swiss rounds were over by 6:10pm (and we started at 1:25pm!). I then let everyone entering the final sixteen catch their breath for the next twenty minutes, while Erik raffled off the extra T-Shirt (we always get one extra at events to do this). Then the finals were on. If it's possible they went smoother than the swiss rounds ... flowing from one match to the next. And then at 8:30pm (yeah ... two hours to get from sixteen to the final two) I announced our final match. Joe Reil representing the Naga (wild cheers for this as no one really expected Naga to go far, though I mentioned to Erik the night before they would be the sleeper clan of the day) playing against Jeffery Lord representing Phoenix (which drew some good natured boos, as everyone wants to see the underdog triumph). On a side note Jeff had won our last tournament in spectacular fashion, and Erik had picked him to win the night before. Funny how things work out. Peter DeGlopper, playing Dragon, faced off against the young Ryan Jensen, playing Crane, for third. After ten minutes for clearing of the heads and reshuffling of the decks the games were underway. It turned out to be the quickest of the matches that day. Jeff got only two gold producing holdings in his first seventeen cards, and was hurt by Joe's Nio Sensei. Joe on the other hand had a very quick start and the day soon went the way of the Naga. Peter's honor deck was able to get the lead over Ryan's honor deck (nice to see two rival clans play against each other and NOT go head to head with military force all the time), and we had the final standings. When it was all said and done we had a great tournament, which a vast number of people over in seven and a half hours! Needless to say Erik and I were VERY pleased. One thing I wish to point out is a very great moment of sportsmanship. Jared Devlin-Sherer (Phoenix) was playing against Martin Helsing (Neeenja). I had just called time when Martin only needed one more turn to win. His deck had worked and he had cleared all of Jared's army away and was ready to take the military win, but he needed one more turn than he had to do it. Jared could have won on tie-breaker points easily due to honor but instead conceded the win to Martin in a very honorable gesture. A very loud BANZAI and bow to you Jared .... there may be some honor in the Phoenix clan after all (just kidding :). I wish to thank everyone involved for a wonderful day: Erik Brann for being the most dedicated TO I know. Chuck and Vinny at Knight's Quest for being such generally cool guys and hosting one hell of an event. And most especially to all the players that trekked from as far away as four hours to come to our little event! Chris "Rakki Yaro" Burns Monkey Clan Guerrilla * RtV Head Judge at the Knight’s Quest Now for my report. It was quite a day. Here’s the breakdown by clan: Crab 4 Crane 4 Dragon 4 Lion 3 Naga 5 Ninja 4 Phoenix 4 Scorpion 4 Shadowlands 3 Toturi's Army 2 Unicorn 4 Yoritomo's Alliance 2 Every clan was represented multiple times, except the Brotherhood of Shinsei, which had zero participants. Highlights of the day were: Two successful bribery attempts by Martin Helsing (Ninja), who bribed Tim, Naga Player with TWO Shinsei’s Shrines, (original offer was one Shrine, but the eventual winner Joe Reil , also a Naga, offered a Shrine saying "Naga don’t work with the Shadow!"), Martin upped his offer to two Shrines, and the Naga took it. Martin also bribed another player, but I am not sure of the terms. Martin ended up 6-0 at the end of Swiss, but was eliminated in the first round of the eliminations. Note: Not every clan is corruptible. Additionally, Mike Tedford pulled out a Shadowlands Enlightenment victory. Well Done, Mike! My personal experience with the tournament was mixed. I have been trying for a year to force a deck concept that is not viable with Crane, the Kakita Academy deck. Friday night before the tournament I was working on my deck and I was listening to Ryan Jensen rebuild his deck. (All of his Five Rings cards had been stolen out of his locker at school earlier that day.) Martin Helsing was cool enough to help Ryan, by opening his very large collection. Ryan also plays Crane, (I even taught him the game.) But where I have been trying to work a specific angle, Ryan has been running a very straightforward Crane Honor Rocket deck. I decided to get his decklist, and build a version myself. The funny thing about this was that our original deck lists were identical for 30 out of 40 cards. I adjusted my deck to get in line with Ryan’s, (with some changes to suit my play style) and off I went. Round 1. me vs. Mike, Ninja w/ Shoju This game was long, I got out to an early honor edge, and just started running. I was able to Avoid his Abandoning once but in the mid game it hit again. He lost one province to Evil Feeds, and when The Hidden Emperor came up, he and I both renounced. I kept building honor, and he Shoju’ed his Nishiko. So I had to play the waiting game. Abandoning killed all of my personalities, and he got me down to one fewer province than he had, and it became a waiting game. I was at 69 honor when time was called, and I had nothing I could do offensively. Fortunately, I won on tiebreakers. Me 1-0. Round 2. Me vs Eric, Otaku Palaces w/o a sensei. This one got off to a rollicking start, and went with me getting out honor holdings and him attacking, with me sending stuff home. I ran out of fate hand at 43 honor, and he broke my last province. Me, 1-1 Round 3, Me vs. Joe, Naga with Kisada Sensei. Another very close game. I won this one with honor after Naga Storm Mirumoto Mountain came up. He was never able to get rid of the event. Me, 2-1 Round 4, me vs. Rob, Yogo Rat I like to play against Rob. Most of the time at least. He plays very well, and always has some interesting trick up his sleeve. He won this one militarily, but it was close, (I ended game at 47 honor.) Me 2-2 Round 5, me vs John, Kolatty Ninja w/o Sensei Two Ninja in an event. My luck is very bad. Fortunately, I was able to stave off his offense, and keep gaining honor in spite of his two Den of Spies. Once the Master Painter hit, I was gaining 9 honor at turn for a net of five. Me 3-2 Round 6, me vs. Peter (Iron Mountain Dragon w/ Hantei Sensei) This was my worst game of the day. Opening draw was 2 Fantastic Gardens, Kuwanan XP 2, Evil feeds. Boom, we both lose a province. I did not get much gold out, and he went to town running honor. Game to the eventual 3rd place finisher. Me 3-3. Final placing 21st out of 43. All in all it was a great event. With some adjustments for my personal style, this deck can rock. Note to Self: SHUFFLE BETWEEN MATCHES BETTER! We did 6 rounds of Swiss with a top 16, because that is what the DCI Rulebook says to do. 5 Rounds would never have been enough to get a clearly defined top 8. The event went very fast, and I was pleased to see so many people. The Naga win came as a surprise to me, I had picked Jeff Lord to win, based on his previous week’s performance. Now to prepare for Kotei, with a Warmup event next Saturday (5/20) Thanks ===== Kakita Kentei Crane Clan Duelist * Samurai 2F 4C 5HR 7G 3PH Will only join Crane Clan. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/