"No ... No ... I'm not the leader ... honest, I'm not."	Snake-eyes ... that can't be good.

The 2008 Brawling Battleships Steel championship game saw Pat Mirk -- the only tournament recipient of the legendary curse of Mata Hari -- finally win the championship. In 2007, Mirk -- a veteran WBC player -- was topped by an almost impossible play by Andrew Chitwood who pulled three event cards, both Mata Hari cards (a spy card that lets you draw two cards from an opponent's hand) and the Radio Intercept card that lets you draw two cards from the discard pile. Andrew Chitwood the youngest player ever to make the Final decided to steal two of Pat Mirk's cards, who was sitting immediately to his left, normally the play is better against players to the right, but since he needed a ride home he decided not to play Mata Hari on his stepfather Stephen Shedden, who had also qualified for the Final in a separate heat. Everyone at the table was surprised though when Andrew played the second Mata Hari on Mirk, reducing him to two cards. When Andrew then played the Radio Intercept card and picked up both Mata Hari cards from the discard pile everyone at the table immediately encouraged him to play the third spy on Mirk to let him have the distinct honor of being the sole recipient of Mata Hari's curse. For his anguish, Pat received a nice prize to commemorate the notoriety.

Brawling Battleships Steel had a new GM and new format this year being played in a single round. The change in format still rewarded capable play by Steve Raszewski and David Huss, both prior champions, making the Finals once again. The recent change in the tournament form, qualifying heats to a single session, single elimination tournament was so successful that it may be continued next year. Alas, the GM who failed to fulfill his report obligation will have to be replaced.