The last day of Gencon brought the highlight of the 1997 Shadowfist season - the US National tournament. The qualification requirement made for a lower number of participants than on the previous day - 12 players. To control these top players, the event was officiated by top umpire, Steve Fritz - the organiser of regular events at Neutral Ground and so used to controlling the most ornery of prima donnas. Talking of which, there was a rumour that Dennis Heffernan would be appearing for this event on the last day. Unfortunately, this was not to be but there were several others to carry the flag for the East Coast.
The participants and their decks were:
Player City Faction Theme/Name Andrew Davidson London, UK A.FH... Tickertape Brian Carty ?, Florida .D.H... ? Danny Cruz New York A..H... You'll be sorry... Janifer Cheng New York .DFHLJM Melting Pot Joseph Livotte New York ..F.... Trinity Joshua Kronengold New York .D..... Walk Softly Lissa Sabia Los Angeles A...... I'm Huge Matt Widmann Los Angeles .D..... Smack Back,Yak Attack Michael Nickoloff Los Angeles ..F.L.. Dangerous Experiment Stefan Vincent Los Angeles ...H..M Displaced Chicks Tom Luongo Gainesville, FL ...H.J. ? Yuit Sum Vong London, UK .DF.... ButchFaction popularity
Being the last day, time was short and Steve set a limit of 45 minutes
for each game. This was rather tight and several games were timed out and
decided by a tie-break. The rules used for these were those published by
Daedalus (version 1.0) - the first tie-break was feng shui sites + feng
shui sites burnt for victory. The tie-break system was also used to determine
places in each game but, happily, these were not needed to establish the
finalists.
The Architects had been very popular and successful on the previous
day, besting the Dragons in the final. There seemed to be a reaction against
them in consequence and they were shot on sight, e.g. when Stefan used
the Displaced to toast my Architect resource. This is one reason that the
previous day's undefeated winner, Joseph, did not win a game - perhaps
he should have changed decks.
The results of the first three rounds were:
Round 1
Joshua Kronengold beat Andrew Davidson, Stefan Vincent, Brian Carty
Janifer Cheng beat Yuit Sum Vong, Lissa Sabia, Mike Nickoloff
Matt Widmann beat Danny Cruz, Tom Luongo, Joseph Livotte
Round 2
Stefan Vincent beat Lissa Sabia, Joseph Livotte, Andrew Davidson
Matt Widmann beat Janifer Cheng, Joshua Kronengold, Yuit Sum Vong
Mike Nickoloff beat Tom Luongo, Brian Carty, Danny Cruz
Round 3
Joshua Kronengold beat Tom Luongo, Yuit Sum Vong, Andrew Davidson
Lissa Sabia beat Stefan Vincent, Mike Nickoloff, Matt Widmann
Janifer Cheng beat Danny Cruz, Joseph Livotte, Brian Carty
The three double-winners then fought a final. A full listing of each
of their decks accompanies this article. Unfortunately, I missed the start
of the final game (licking my wounds and checking my notes) and so didn't
see the key play which, as I understand it, was Joshua taking a Drug Lab
from Matt while Janifer, to Matt's fury, did not interfere. When I started
watching, the game was already decided - Joshua had about five sites and
at least one big character - outmatching the other two players combined.
His deck is fast and, having established a dominant position, the winning
attack came soon. This very rapid victory was somewhat anti-climactic but,
like they say, speed kills.
Final
Joshua Kronengold beat Janifer Cheng, Matt Widmann
Joshua's prize for winning this event was a 1st edition of Feng Shui
signed by John Woo. The real prize, though, is earning the right to swagger
as The Man for a year. Congratulations to Joshua and his home town, New
York. I attach a jpeg photo of Joshua in his Artful Dodger hat, displaying
his MVP - Ting Ting, of course.
Commiserations to the others, especially Matt Widmann. His record over
the last two days was very impressive - five wins in eight games - and
it must have been very galling to come away without a trophy. Thanks to
Steve for running the event and to Daedalus for their sponsorship. And
thanks to all those who took part - you were all great competitors and
sports. Finally, a special mention for Stefan Vincent whose good-natured
and witty banter kept myself and others entertained throughout.
Last modified: March 13, 1998.
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