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Sagrada (SAG) WBC 2019 Event Report
Updated February 3, 2020.
156 Players Tina del Carpio 2019 Status 2020 Status Event History
2019 Champion & Laurels
 

Tina del Carpio Wins First Sagrada Tournament!

As a first time GM for a new event, I was unsure what to expect when Sagrada made its debut as a 2019 trial event. I had mentally prepared myself to be demoralized with a low turnout or to have the difficult task of turning people away because no one brought copies of the game. I had no cause to worry because the WBC crowd brought its enthusiasm (and mercifully many copies of the game) to all the heats. It all started with a Thursday morning demo which was attended by 20+ players eager to learn a new game. The crowd was enthusiastic and asked lots of good questions, and I was eager to get the first heat started.

I should have seen it coming when I had some players follow me and the Sagrada kiosk down from open gaming to the Seasons room, but I was nevertheless blown away when a line formed quickly and we checked in 90 entrants for heat 1. Our numbers peaked at 96 entrants for heat 2 before dropping to 60 entrants in heat 3. We had a grand total of 156 unique entrants, and I can’t thank everyone enough for playing!

After the dust settled in the preliminary rounds, we were left with 12 double winners and many single heat winners, and many more people who didn’t win but had a great time playing. We filled the 16 player semifinal with 13 of the top 16 qualifiers and 3 alternates. Considering the semifinal conflicted with the extremely popular Facts in Five, I was very pleased that anyone showed up at all! One player tried in vain to get his table to play their semi-final heat in the ballroom, but couldn’t quite pull it off.

The semifinals were competitive. Table 1 saw Andrew Menard advance convincingly with a 60-43-34-34 victory, propelled by his 31 points for his private objective. Table 2 saw Tina Del Carpio grind out a 57-49-49-48 victory, pushing through an awful set of public objectives (light shade, medium shade, dark shade) to prevail. Table 3 saw Howard Marron lead the pack in a high scoring shootout, winning 72-70-67-56. Finally, table 4 saw Mark Jensen post a solid 68-55-53-38 win.

All four finalists were double winners in the preliminary heats, showing that their performances were no fluke. The battle that ensued was friendly but fierce, with accusations flying over everyone’s private objectives and players trying to convince others to draft certain dice to aid their plans or foil others. Mark played perhaps the most unique and aggressive strategy, being the first to use a tool yet making it to the 10th die before placing his third color in the window. Later in the game, he would opt not to place a die in a spot, holding off for a better final roll, leaving him with what we called a “tactical hole” in his window. I’m thinking maybe we should re-think that term. In the end, it was extremely tight going into the final round, with Tina drawing the honor of rolling the dice and picking first. She was looking for at least one red 5, and she rolled three! Clearly fate was on her side, as red was Tina’s favorite color, and it also happened to be her private objective the final 3 games. Tina’s skillful final roll netted her enough points to secure first place with 63 points. Mark landed second with 61 points, Howard third with 60 points, and Andrew fourth with 57 points. Based on margin of defeat percentage in the semifinals, our top 6 was rounded out by Dan Farrow (5th) and Nathaniel Ropski (6th). Congratulations to the winner and the top 6 finishers, and thank you to everyone who played!

A special thanks goes out to my assistant-to-the-GM (Howard) and my assistant GM (Danique). When I made the decision to submit Sagrada as a trial event, I knew I could not do it alone. In fact, Howard and Danique might argue that I did nothing other than schmooze with the players and make jokes. They are not far off. But seriously, without those two, and the support of several other friends who came to help and/or play, there is no way the event could have succeeded. Also, a special thanks to the other GM’s and players who offered advice before the event on the boardgamegeek forums, during the event, or afterwards. Their words of wisdom and guidance made things run smoothly and gave me lots of ideas on how to improve things for next year.

 
2019 Laurelists Repeating Laurelists: NA
Mark Jensen Howard Marron Andrew Menard Daniel Farrow IV Nathaniel Ropski
2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Deciding what to do next. They ponder what die to take.
Nearing the end creates dificult decision. Limited options to determine best move.
Tallying the results. Finalists with GM Daron Schreier.
GM  Daron Schreier [1st Year]  NA
 NA  NA