Stahleck 2018 King of Swiss

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Schwaig 41

Savez vous passer le tradéridéra? Savez vous passer ceci sans vous tromper ?

I wanted to share with you this list which made me King of Swiss at the Stahleck 2018 Savez vous tournament. Though I lost the first round of the Top games I still think it is a very capable list which might even reach higher standings with a more skilled pilot than me.

Check out the standings of the tournament here.


The list:

Most likely everyone will agree that you should put at least one copy of Stinking Drunk into your list. The question is only how many more will you run? I think 3x are too many, but I like to run an addititonal second copy of Stinking Drunk in combination with The Honeywine. Other good options in my opinion may be to combine it with A Gift of Arbor Red or a nice bottle of Bear Island. I like to run a single copy of Ser Gerris Drinkwater in my list as well. It helps at some points to keep the head clear and remain control over the flow of the game, especially if you have a bad setup and are behind during the first turns. For plot choices, we obviously go with A Noble Cause, no discussion on that needed I guess. But you may also consider bringing The Long Plan as I did, it can pay off in the Cut games if you do not run into Forgotten Plans.

I think the choices of this list – though they may look quite surprising at first glance – speak for themselves, which is why I will skip on a more detailed description of the list components. However, if you have any specific questions I am more than willing to provide more details in the comments. So please feel free to ask.


Tourney report:

First, many thanks to the TO Luiz for this awesome event and the judging team for their fine decisions on all the different matters. I also want to thank all my friends that helped in creating this fine list, especially Conny and Franke, who ran their slightly different approaches of the Lanni Conclave cup also to the Top 3 / final round, and Josh and Luiz, who unfortunately missed the cut this time.

I will try to describe the matches as I remember them. Please no offense to anyone if I recall or interpret something different than it actually was! It was a very long and challenging tournament and exhaustion took its toll in the end. Also I am very sorry that I might have forgotten some of the opponents names during this day. That is by no means any sign of disrespect to their skills and achievements! I am just not so good with remembering names. Okay, disclaimer done, lets start.

Participants (in [edit: almost] alphabetical order):

  • Conny Rutten
  • Franke Roders
  • Joni Lampimäki
  • Joshua Chambers aka Wammasbane
  • Luis Gustavo Bretas
  • Max Beukelman
  • Nick Hansen
  • Sam Braatz
  • Schwaig
  • Soraia Lobos
  • Pollowop

Round 1: Win vs BYE

We started the first round directly after the warm-up phase. The warm-up phase did not quite go to the second plot because of a new player by the nick Pollowop, who tried very hard but did not manage to pass a single cup for several tries. In the end the TO lost his nerves and directly eliminated the player from the tournament in an attempt to get the game flowing. I figure it was just not his day. Easy win for me.


Round 2: Win vs BYE

After the starting difficulties, the game continued quite smoothly to Round 2. I am not quite sure, but I think there were several penalty coins handed out to different players and even Josh got his first in this our the next round already, but in the end Max managed to mess up with the cups for 3 times as the first player and was eliminated from the tournament. I think Max was also a new player, so he did quite well on the tournament considering that he had just learned the game and probably did not run an optimised list. Good game, but overall not a challenge for my list. Proceed to round 3.


Round 3: Win vs BYE

The game was starting to get interesting now. The player to my right, Joni, was pushing very hard and tried to get pressure on me. I managed to defend most challenges, but I think I made my first misplay during that round, which gave me the first coin. Not sure if I interpreted this right, but I guess the constant focus on offense weakened Jonis defense that much that he finally made his third mistake and was eliminated. I also think that Soraia collected 1 ore 2 coins during that round, Luiz, Conny and Sam also got one each if I remember correctly. Overall quite challenging, but in the end I managed to pull off a win again.


Round 4: Win vs BYE

Not sure why, but the place to my right was a bit cursed as it seems. Soraia had to move up to fill Jonis vacant seat and got eliminated right after him. Because she was already on 2 coins before the round started, this round did not take so many turns. No misplay from my side, win and proceed to round 5.


Round 5: Win vs BYE

Not quite sure on the coins count at the start of this round. There were some players with two coins I guess, maybe Luis and Josh, some with one, Sam, Conny and myself. Franke and Nick were still without mistakes I think. The cursed on the place to my right was lifted as it seems, because Luis was the next to Take the Black, errr … I mean the third coin. No misplay from my side in this round I think.


Round 6: Win vs BYE

So we were getting closer to the cut. If I remember correctly this round went on a bit longer than the last one. I think I misplayed once here, which brought me up to frightening 2 coins, but in the end it was Josh who had to leave. Close win for me.


Round 7: Win vs BYE

The last challenge before the cut. I think the standing was Franke 0, Nick 0, Sam 1, Conny 1, myself 2. So full concentration from now on, I could still make it. I just had to focus on Conny and Sam, because Franke and Nick were playing like machines and it was not likely they would make 3 misplays. The round raged on and Sam got his second coin. Good for me. As the only German on the table, I felt quite the pressure from the outnumbering presence of the Dutch and American players, so I concentrated very hard on my own play to avoid mistakes and hoped for more misplays from the other players. I think Franke got a coin as well in this round. Next up were Conny for her second coin, I think, so the game was getting real close. But in the end it was Sam who misplayed and was eliminated from the round. Well played and gratulations to Sam for his performance!


TO Luis declared the final standing after the swiss according to Jousting Pavilion. Even though I had two coins, I was declared King of Swiss, which made me quite happy. I think I took the right list to this tournament. And no, I have no idea how exactly I became King of Swiss, so sorry, I can not answer that question.

So, the Swiss was over and the remaining coins were removed to give a good, fresh start for the Cut rounds. But first each remaining player had to face the “Bulgarian challenge”. Every player had to drink and from that point on, every mistake would be another drink. I don’t know what exactly that stuff in that bottle was but after the first, mandatory drink it was quite clear: this stuff would be my end if I made another misplay in the early game. I tried to counter a bit with Ser Gerris Drinkwater, but it didnt help much in this situation. So full concentration mode was required.

After the swiss rounds, all cups we played with were checked by the judges to guarantee that no tinkering had be done with them. My list was remarked as correct and as King of Swiss I had the first choice to pick the Setup cup. I took a very well balanced cup and tried to prepare myself for the first round of the Cut.

The Cut was to be played with tricks activated, so we divided the table area in 4 equal parts using Salzstangen (saltlets?) as border marks. After a few fruitless attempts to stop the spectators from eating the playing area marks, we finally had everything set up to start in the Cut.

Round 8: Loss vs BYE

The round started good for me and I had a very good feeling about my game. But quite soon I had to stop the round for a Judge call. One of the spectators had placed his drink in the play area of Nick who was playing on my left side after the Swiss. Since that bottle was reducing the possibilities for me to play tricks on Nick significantly, it had to be removed from the table. The judging team agreed on my plead, the bottle was removed and the result of this first turn canceled.

We proceeded to play a bit, but soon I made a slight misplay. The Judges could not tell whether Nick or me were responsible for that, but both Nick and me knew that it was my misplay so no need for any though decision. First coin for me and another sip of the Bulgarian drink, which started to show its effect on me already.

Play continued and we got a good turn running. I think we were in the second plot after the first speed raise when Franke’s and my hand collided and caused a misplay. I thought Franke had tried to pay a risky trick on my side, causing him to reach way over the border into my play area and I called the Judges because it seemed an illegal move to me. Franke was saying that he did not reach farther into my play area than the turns before which would have made the mistake my fault. It was a hard call for the Judges, because they did not see what happened there themselves and it was word against word. While the Judges were discussing, I was asking my friend Franke if he was sure that he did not reach further into my play area than allowed. I knew that he is a great player with great fairplay. I knew that he would never lie on such a matter - after all, thats not Magic we are playing here right? - and after he said he was very sure that he did not reach into my area further than allowed I was now convinced that I got a wrong impression of Frankes move. I asked the Judges to withdraw my call and give me the penalty coin. It also meant that I had to drink another round from the Bulgarian bottle. This was getting very close, no more room for mistakes from now on.

After that, I got a better flow into the next turns and I think there were mistakes for Conny and Franke in this round as well. But in the end the Bulgarian drink took its toll on my play and I made the third misplay after a few more turns. I was eliminated from the Cut and my dreams of the World Championship were over, but I think I did quite well for my second major tournament and I am very proud of my list as well. Congratulations to Franke, Conny and Nick on this round and thanks for the awesome games!

A quick summary of the rest of the tournament, but because I was not playing any longer I do not remember that many details:

Top3 was Nick, Franke and Conny. After the Judges took some time to make a fair division of the play are into 3 parts, many good geometric approaches to that problem failed and it was decided that the marks were removed. All players had proven themselves as fair players so far, so the next round was played without table marks. I don’t remember how exactly it happened, but Franke was eliminated from the tournament in this round despite him having played almost flawless up to this point.

So the Final was between Conny and Nick. Rules for the final game were applied and two chairs placed on the table. I think there was even a recording of the Final by Sandy, so maybe check out if you can watch it. It was a very good game, Nick had a very good start and standing was 2:0 for him after a while, giving him 2 matchpoints and a good shot on the Championship. Conny was able to pull off an amazing comeback at this point and the next penalty coin went to Nick. Not sure if the final result was 3:2 or 3:1, but in the end Conny made the third misplay. Congratulations to Nick on his amazing run and Conny for making second place at this World Championship. Well played!

In the end, it may have been wise to have brought a second copy of Ser Gerris Drinkwater to mitigate the Bulgarian Challenge, so that may be one change to the list you can consider.

So thanks again to all the players for the good games, to the TO and Judges and everyone else who wants to have it.

4 comments

Amoon 1

LOL

Stormborn 301

Needs more Rakharo

DontYouKnowImLoco 35

the fuck am I looking at?

Comm 48

Now I know what you're talking about @Schwaig , this is hilarious !!!