Fifty-three farmers made their way to the Seasons room to try their hand at the Agricola tournament, which is a small uptick from last year’s attendance, and essentially in-line. There were a few highlights in the Heats, such as Andrew Martin’s 72-point jewel which set an all-time record for the highest score ever recorded in the WBC Agricola tournament. Quarry, Clay Pit, Mansion… enough said. Agricultural powerhouse Keith Dent, sitting to Andrew’s left and therefore having seen none of those minor improvements in the draft, must have been truly annoyed knowing that Andrew had taken Stone House Extension from his pack. OOF!! This year was also the first time the GM has ever had to adjudicate a game for going well over the allotted time, as players in a very slow Heat 1 game wanted to participate in the second Heat, which got started 15 minutes late in an effort to prevent the adjudication. The Seasons hall was also greeted by an extra special guest; none other than the only person to qualify for four straight Agricola Finals, Mike Kaltman. Upon asking Mike to grace the room with some sage words of advice, his response was, “Do me a favor? Next year, remind me to NOT play in Seven Wonders… ever again!”. For a guy who’s made four straight Finals in an event that directly runs up against Seven Wonders on the schedule, the solution seems pretty clear.
After the Heats were finished, everyone’s favorite game of “what did it take to make the Final?” was decidedly clear: Players needed a minimum of one win, one second, and any result in a third heat, which was a lower bar for entry than any previous year. Sadly, Eric Wrobel bubbled as #17 after travel delays caused him to miss the first Heat. He recorded a win and a second place.
Before moving on to the Final, we ought to discuss the tournament format and how it has evolved over time, as dissent has slowly grown within a contingent over the past few years regarding the tournament format. Some desire a switch to Revised Agricola while others would prefer EIK to remain as the default. There are also a bunch of Play-Agricola (PA) folks who loathe EIK Draft 7 and would prefer a Draft 8 or Draft 9 format to increase the power level of the game and ultimately the point ceiling.
It’s not always easy being a GM. Don’t take my word for it, though… take it from the BPA website:So, you want to be a GM? Welcome to the club of the most underpaid, over-dedicated boardgame Game Masters in the world. But we are also the best—because we are volunteers who do it for the love of the game and the hobby—not to collect a quick buck for collecting event tickets.
What do you get out of it? Nothing except the satisfaction of seeing the event run by someone who cares, setting the schedule for the game, and a GM polo shirt.
While the GM has no interest in a polo shirt, he does have a passion for ensuring the event was run by someone who cares and who has its best interests in mind. But hey – he’s also THE BEST. The website even says so!
Over the past several years, the tournament permitted the choice of either EIK or Revised during Heats in an attempt to gauge interest and determine if and when a hard cutover to Revised made sense. The first years in which this was offered (starting in 2019) all the way through 2024 yielded pretty similar results – approximately 25% of players expressed a preference to play Revised. While exact numbers of this next stat weren’t saved, the “surprise me” preference has seemed to slowly grow over the last couple of years. The default format for the Semifinal and Final rounds has remained EIK unless any Semifinal or Final table decided they would all rather play Revised (or say, “surprise me”). No elimination game has ever unanimously voted to play Revised over EIK, as every table over the years has always had at least one person veto playing Revised.
With that said, the landscape of Agricola has changed dramatically in the last 1-2 years. If you’d like to play online, Play-Agricola had long been the spot where the sharkiest of the sharks could be found. The catch is that the interface feels daunting to some. Jon McSenn once stated it takes about as much effort to play on PA as it does to play the game in person. Lots of things need to be manually moved around, players need to audit one another, and in the golden age of the internet, people want simplicity, ease, and sleekness in their gaming interfaces. A poor man’s version of all of those things existed for quite a while on the now defunct Boiteajeux.net, which was the preferred location for most people to play original EIK Agricola minus a few cards that were never implemented. It wasn’t until somewhat recently that Revised Agricola has found a suitable online home on BoardGameArena. This interface is so good that Agricola has expanded its influence across the globe. Sure, it’s not Ticket to Ride or Catan in terms of popularity, but thousands of people played Agricola for the first time in the last year, thanks to BGA.
In an effort to marginally appease some dissenters, this year’s format was modified from EIK Draft 7 to Draft 8. This follows a change made in 2023 that was a common pain point for players: the elimination of 5-player marathons in favor of the food-intense 3-player game to balance out instances where attendance does not neatly equate to an even multiple of four. But be careful what you wish for! Due to the removal of 5-player games, the Heats were reduced down from the 3 hour time blocks, which ended up dropping Agricola from a Prize Level 4 event to Prize Level 3.
A Draft 8 or Draft 9 format helps deal with an issue with the original version of Agricola, and one of the main reasons for the refresh of the game – there are a lot of weak cards. But don’t take it from me, take it from a Mayfair designer (who owned rights to Agricola at that time before eventually shuttering its doors), quoted on BosrdGmeGeek in 2015:
… Agricola is 8 years old now. There are many cards in the original edition that are never played. Cards that sit on your hand like a lame duck and block that spot for an (exciting) card. There are lots of cards that define your strategy in a negative way, as you'll never play them. Which leads to a "real" hand size of approximately 2-4 cards each.
We don't like that. Uwe wants the game to be open for all players, to reduce the luck in the card draw. Therefore, his idea is to eliminate weak cards and to replace them with power cards from expansions. We need a tournament standard that's good for the next decade.
Well, the time has arrived. Moving forward in 2025 and beyond, the Agricola tournament will fully adopt Revised Agricola as the tournament format. No more useless cards sitting in players’ hands like a lame duck! Nothing but excitement, henceforth. The precise format remains unclear, as some challenges still exist, not the least of which is ensuring enough copies of the game can be supplied for whatever deck format is enacted.
Back to the action of the 2024 tournament
Three of Table #1’s semifinalists were no strangers to Agricola Semifinals: Robbie Mitchell, Ricky Boyes and Sky Roy. They were joined by a newcomer to WBC, but a truly gifted Agricola player that dominated Play-Agricola for several years, Riley Kimminau. The scores in this game were close, but the game was even closer than the result, as there were some last round shenanigans and attempted blocking amongst the players. Riley was perceived as the leader, and players were trying to block his renovation with a Mansion, but all for naught as he had a Stone Breaker in hand. However, it was disruptive enough to allow Ricky to sneak by Riley for a one-point victory and a berth in his second Final table.
Jack Wolff joined the Greensboro home game at Semifinal Table #2 with Sceadeau D’Tela, Steve LeWinter and Revised specialist Eric Peffer. Unfortunately for Eric, this was not a Revised game and Sceadeau came away victorious to qualify for his kagillionth final table… it’s been so many that it’s difficult to keep track of it. Sceadeau’s 197 laurels in the event put him way out in front of the pack. He’s 76 laurels ahead of the next person on the list!
Semifinal Table #3 was the most interesting, with three players breaking 50 and a very tight finish. Three of the four people who broke 50 in the Semifinal were at this table, but that’s sort of how it goes with Agricola… some games will have higher point ceilings depending on bonus cards or early/late family growth. This game had a massive shortage of lame ducks. Ryan Feathers came out on top with 55 points, but in a post-game analysis defending champion Allan Jiang believes he missed his winning line in Round 14 that would have given him the victory had he taken more time to find it. Time was a bit tight and many of the players competing were hoping to make Heats at the next time block.
Andrew Martin smoked Semifinal Table #4 in a low power, high lame duck game against Alex Bove, Sam Wolff, and forever bridesmaid-but-never-a-bride Rob Murray. Somehow Andrew was still able to find 55 points using sharp tactical play, tying Ryan Feathers for the high score of the Semifinal. His ten point win was by far the largest margin of victory in the Semifinal (other margins of victory were 1, 2 and 3 points). Alas, no 5th/6th place laurels would be had at this table.
This year’s final four were all alumni of Agricola Final tables. Sceadeau is the event’s all-time leader in laurels and Andrew Martin has finished 1-2 in the last two years’ Final. Internet streaming sensation Ryan Feathers returned for back-to-back Final appearances – an extraordinarily tough feat that not many can lay claim to. Ricky’s last appearance in the Final was in 2019 when he famously thanked Micah McCormick for jumping him in the growth queue for “saving (him) some food.” The random seat order was Andrew (1), Sceadeau (2), Ricky (3), and for the second year in a row Ryan found himself in the 4th seat, which is statistically weaker, but is granted tiebreakers for all purposes at game end.
While all the players complained about the strength of the Occupations, there were still a few bright spots to be found. Andrew first picked a Hedge Keeper and followed it up with a Church Warden and a fourth pick Farmer for a little bit of potential synergy.
Ricky’s opening pick Mason meant Sceadeau drafted Animal Breeder second after first picking a Berry Picker. Ryan’s opening selection was Stonecutter, which went well with his wheel (5th) pick out of the pack, which was Businessman.
In the minor improvements, Andrew kept it simple and took Duck Pond first, leaving Sceadeau with a very long think for his second pick after he had first picked Ox Team, which typically plays well in EIK with Animal Breeder. Sceadeau eventually selected Granary and passed along Beanfield, Swan Lake, and Yoke. Ricky had some interesting choices, and went with Lasso over Lumber, Chicken Coop, and Baking Tray. Perhaps Ricky had an alternate food strategy? Ryan was undoubtedly happy with his draft. His first choice was Punner but got a second pick Lumber (free w/ Stonecutter), a fourth pick Swan Lake which was very telling of either the weakness of the Occupations or the strength of Andrew’s starting pack and was able to wheel Village Well out of his opening hand – a fantastic weapon with Stonecutter / Businessman.
Ricky is a strong gamer, with a couple of Agricola Finals. He has also been known to try interesting, unclear lines when it comes to Agricola. After Andrew opened with Reed-Stone-Food (RSF) and Sceadeau played his Berry Picker, Ricky played the seldom used Reed Buyer (in a Final!), which can warp the economy of the game. Students of WBC Agricola may recall Ricky’s Stage 1 Pig Whisperer in the 2019 Final and a Net Fisherman with 1 reed grabs. The man likes to shake it up! As Reed Buyer can only potentially purchase the first reed taken in a round, this meant taking 1 reed in turn one goes up a lot in value… but none of the other three players chose to take it. Ryan took 3W, Sceadeau took 2W+f, while Andrew elected to get an early plow in.
Therefore, Ricky took Day Laborer, which he declared as two reed, and Ryan openly proclaimed he hates everything and grabbed Start Player with a Wooden Path. The first stage went well for Andrew, as Ryan opened with RSF, which triggered Ricky’s Reed Buyer, and Andrew snagged the 2 reed. The rest of stage 1 saw Andrew acquire necessary room parts and play both Church Warden and Hedge Keeper, Sceadeau took a line involving two clay grabs and getting Granary on the table, Ricky had tempo on first room through reed denial, and Ryan played an early Well powered by his Stonecutter and Businessman to set up a potential Village Well / Well play.
This would be an early Family Growth game, with first growth flipping in Round 5. While Ricky thanked Chris and claimed the first growth with a Basket (hah!), Andrew took one reed after Ryan opened with RSF and then took Start Player to double build wood rooms in Round 6. He grew second with the Lumber he was previously passed from Ryan but had to pay infinitely more stone for it than Ryan did. Meanwhile Ryan was able to utilize his power combo to play Village Well and immediately re-play the Well, taking care of food and points for a while. Sceadeau struggled in the room queue but built the Fireplace and took 4 sheep in Round 7. Gotta love late Sheep and early FG games.
In Stage 3, Andrew was able to grow to his fourth peep in Round 8 ahead of Sceadeau’s first growth, but Sceadeau’s consolation prize would be a Pastor play in Round 8. Andrew shifted his focus from growth to feeding by building a Cooking Hearth, playing Farmer, taking and eating some Boar and starting his fencing with a small single-square pasture aided by his Hedge Keeper. While Andrew ate Boar, Sceadeau ate Sheep, with Ryan benefitting from both of these activities from his Slaughterman, which is a bit stronger in early FG games. Aside from that, half of Ryan’s Stage 3 actions were wood grabs. Meanwhile, Ricky grabbed some resources and found the time to sneak in a Mason in advance of his upcoming renovations. Ricky was still in a three-room wood house, so would likely need to build his fourth room out of clay prior to renovating to stone as wood was not plentiful.
Ryan continued wood aggression by opening Round 10 with 4 wood, followed by Andrew immediately fencing with his own power combo of Hedge Keeper / Farmer for a second pasture costing one wood with a bonus cow. Sceadeau built his second room in Round 10 and would grow the following round with an Ox Team for 3 fields. Ricky activated his first Renovation in Round 10 and followed up by doing the normal things a good farmer does by getting a veg and sowing both grain and veg. With Ryan’s aggressive accumulation of wood in Stage 3, he opened as the Start Player in Round 10 by fencing four tight pastures for 12 wood. Andrew immediately took Start Player with Cooking Corner hoping to see Family Growth w/o Room flip in Round 12. Ricky wasn’t quite ready for his second renovation, so Ryan was able to renovate to clay and claim the Pottery. Entering the end game, it seemed to be a shootout between Andrew’s balanced farm and Ryan’s wealth of card points while playing a solid three-person game.
Andrew didn’t get the flip he wanted when Round 12 revealed the Plow/Sow action, so he sat on Start Player with Liquid Manure. Sceadeau acquired 8 wood over his first two actions, with Ricky also getting a wood action for + 3 food / - 2 wood. Ryan ended up getting Plow/Sow as the fourth action in the round since Sceadeau and Ricky were in desperate need of the last big wood grabs of the game for fences, and he then luckily got a second field by plowing on his second action. These were Ryan’s first two fields, which could have been a problematic issue for his farm, especially acting fourth in Round 12… and 13! Once Ryan plowed his second field, Andrew sowed his fields for extra grain and veg and Sceadeau finally claimed the Clay Oven.
Andrew opened Round 13 with the Family Growth action, followed by Sceadeau fencing for 12 wood, Ricky plow / sowing a grain and a veg, and Ryan taking two cows. With a boyish grin and flash of eye contact in Ryan’s direction, Andrew took Start Player as his second action with no Minor Improvement. Ensuring Andrew went first in the final round and Ryan went last was the game winning move. Ryan still pressed by taking two sheep and playing Hide Farmer to make up for some of the empty spots on his final farm. Ricky got his last renovation in, triggering his Mason and growing to his fifth peep with no improvement.
In Round 14, Andrew opened by plow / sowing with extra grain and veg. Sceadeau took three Boar, with two from the board and one purchased from his Animal Dealer. Ricky got his big fence action in during the final round by fencing big for ten wood and activating his Shepherd’s Crook. Ryan got Family Growth w/o Room as the fourth action, passing six wood to Andrew. Andrew would also get four more wood, Renovate with a Strawberry Patch, and build out four stables to end his game. Ryan also had a strong close to his game by taking four reed and playing both Sawmill and Basketmaker’s Workshop with the Start Player action. It’s not too often you see a Round 1 Reed Buyer and Round 14 Basketmaker’s Workshop from two different players, much less in a Final. Sceadeau wrapped up his game by taking sheep, plowing another field, and renovating to clay.
Andrew was victorious by a single point over Ryan, with Sceadeau and Ricky a bit behind. The final line was 51 – 50 – 39 – 39, with Sceadeau besting Ricky for third place on the fourth arbitrary tiebreaker (not fourth seat; both had zero food leftover; neither had any begging cards; Sceadeau had no negative scoring categories while Ricky had one). Ryan breaking 50 and coming one point away from winning while going last for the entire endgame AND starting the game in the fourth seat was a remarkable accomplishment. This was Andrew’s second Agricola victory in three years. Since WBC has returned post-COVID, Andrew has made every Agricola final in his first three years competing in the event, with a second place in 2023 to go along with his two wins. He has firmly established himself as the man to beat moving forward, and if he’s able to make the final next year he will tie Mike Kaltman’s record of four consecutive finals. This is also the second year in a row where Andrew has the distinction of beating the reigning laurel leader in an elimination game, which is no easy feat. Whether Andrew realizes it or not, much of his success and play style can be traced back to Sceadeau’s teachings. Many of those who helped Andrew grok the game were students of Sceadeau.
If Andrew indeed makes the Final next year and continues his assault to climb to the top of the laurel leaderboard, he will need to do so in a new format. Although the specific format is still up in the air since a bunch of decks exist that aren’t necessarily widely owned by the WBC community, Revised Agricola will be the base format moving forward in 2025.
Final thoughts from the GM: It has been a pleasure to be the captain of the Agricola ship for the last ten tournaments, dating all the way back to 2013. During that time, the depth of skill in the player pool has increased exponentially and I’m proud of that fact that Agricola became known as one of the hardest tournaments in the entire WBC convention. On a more personal and selfish level, at the same time the tournament rose in difficulty in that time, it’s been fun to pepper these reports by saying I’ve had the longest run of Semifinal appearances, which now stands at 11. It’s just one of those freaky occurrences where you can use statistics to manipulate the narrative in your favor. The time has come to pass the torch to someone else who has a more vested interest in continuing to run this event using the Revised version of the game. I’m not sure if it is a younger or better-looking generation just yet, as it’s unclear which member of the Revised mob is going to ultimately step forward to run the event, but I certainly wish them well and hope to see the event continue to flourish and maintain its reputation as a big, scary shark tank.
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