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Kyle Smith, Doug Mercer, Sam Schell
and Janet Ottey try to qualify. |
Tedd Mullally and the Caesar, Randy
Buehler compete. |
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Virginia Colin, Doug Galullo
and Katie Breza on the Nile. |
Tom Horne, Daniel Eppolito and
Eric Engleman in the first heat. |
The Tarheel Answer to Quebec ...
Reigning Caesar Randy Buehler and Sceadeau d'Tela returned
to the Final where Randy had edged Sceadeau on a tiebreaker in
2011. However, both were quite simply outplayed by Sam Shell,
who came to WBC specifically to play Egizia and walked away with
the title. Sam also had beaten Randy in a heat and was one of
three double heat winners so the win was no fluke. Sceadeau and
Pete Staab were the other double winners.
The Final almost qualified as a home game with three NC Greenspielers
joined by "friend-of-Greenspielers" Buehler. However,
once the game began, Sam put on a clinic on proper play. His
first trip down the Nile raised the strength of his workers three
times without acquiring any new farms specifically so he could
pay six life for food and move backwards far enough on the Victory
Point Track to ensure that he got to draft first in the next
two ages. He also jumped down the river very aggressively to
grab the card that allows inspection of two extra cards when
you go to the Sphinx.
Sam continued to manipulate his "drafting" order
in Round 2 by jumping downstream to grab the card allowing him
to move upstream once per round. This allowed him to grab key
cards more easily while never being forced to skip the Sphinx.
He even picked up the double move "time walk" card,
which he deployed to great effect in Round 5.
Sphinx cards were the key to his winning score. While he had
to put all the cards back on one of his four Sphinx visits, he
made up for it by hitting the "2 points per permanent"
card on his Age 5 Sphinx activation, which was good for an easy
eight points. When all the dust settled, Sam was tied with Sceadeau
going into final scoring, but in addition to the eight points
for permanents he also scored eight for most brown fields, nine
for having five bricks in the obelisk (thanks largely to grabbing
the three cheapest spots on his first build), and ten points
for two bricks everywhere. This resulted in a five-point win
over Sceadeau, 109-104.
Elaine and Randy were both hurt early by a very rock-light shuffle.
Both of the unused cards from the Round 1/2 deck were Quarries
and Sam and Sceadeau scooped up all the Quarries that appeared,
forcing Randy and Elaine to fight over the scraps and the rock
market. Elaine hung with the two leaders for most of the game,
but she had only 14 points in Sphinx cards to Randy's 29, and
that allowed him to close the gap and take third with 86 points
to Elaine's 81.
With attendance up 20% this year, Egizia seems like
it is primed for a long run as a Century event. It's a really
fun game and the action drafting mechanic that requires you to
always move downstream is a truly great mechanic. We look forward
to seeing even more of you in the event next year.
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Rebecca Hebner and Ted Bohaczuk explore
mysterious Egypt. |
The finalists gather for the championship
game. |
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