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Agricola returned to WBC in 2025 for its sixteenth tournament. There was a lot on the line for this year’s event, and not just because the playing field was as strong as ever. Following Rob Murray’s decade-long leadership of the event, it was time to see whether the WBC Agricola world would accept the Revised Edition as the default format. In recent years, about 25% of players opted to play Revised while Original (EIK) was the default edition. How much of that would shift if the default changed? Furthermore, some minor schedule changes would see the tournament start a little later and hope to provide slightly fewer scheduling conflicts for the player base.
Heat 1 turnout was strong, over 50 interested players showed up to farm, with 14 players electing for Original edition and 7 players willing to play either edition. In a somewhat shocking twist, we only had 2 copies of the Original edition and just 12 copies total! (I will now join the choir of GMs: please bring a copy of the game if you can.) It was an early sign that the format change would be a success. After several helpful volunteers switched their preference or were willing to drop out of the Heat, we got going with 12 full tables. High scores of the round were notched by 2017 champion Micah McCormick (60) and WBC first-timer Brian Litman-Smith (59).
After the previous round’s slightly slow start, Heat 2 was a smoother experience logistically for this first-time GM. We had 11 tables, and again two tables played Original edition. The split of player preferences was 32 Revised, 4 Original, and 7 Either, the room perhaps noticing the signal that playoff rounds were likely to be played in the Revised edition. Defending champion Andrew Martin got his second win in dominant fashion, a round 4 Joinery followed by a round 6 Well, showing his opponents that he’d be rich in wood and stone all game. His 54 was good for the second-highest winning score of the round, behind Alex Bove’s 56 (only just getting past Joseph Carrick’s 55 in the same game).
Heat 3 gathered 35 players on Sunday morning. Given that just one copy of Original edition showed up to the heat, which gave us 8 tables of Revised edition along with the single Original table. Thankfully, only 4 players signed up for Original in this Heat, along with 11 Either preferences, so all players still got to play their desired edition. Andrew Martin had the top score in the heat with a 55 point win, and next-highest score of 51 was shared by Sam Wolff, Riley Kimminau, and Sceadeau D’Tela, the latter two tying for the win in the same game!
There was some feedback that the shifting of Heats was a positive change. It’d be great to hear more thoughts on the subject.
With the heats completed, it was time to see where the Semifinal cutoff would end up. Notably, there were 4 triple winners (Lumin Sperling, Sceadeau D’Tela, Alex Bove, and Andrew Martin), nudging the cutoff slightly lower than it typically is. Eighteeen players had a win and a second place, or better. Tiebreakers did not end up being necessary for the cutoff, as 2 of those 18 players ended up with conflicts and couldn’t make the Semifinal. After gathering everyone’s preferred edition, 12 players chose Revised, 2 chose Original, and both Riley Kimminau and Mark Gee shared the GM’s Favorite Person of the Day award by being willing to play either edition. So, everyone got to play their preferred edition in the Semifinal!
That gave us one Original edition Semifinal, with both Riley and Mark joining Micah McCormick and Brian Litman-Smith. Riley gambled on a Perpetual Student in the opening, featuring a Guildmaster hit among a whiff or two. He also had the first cookery and little competition for early sheep, eventually taking the stack at five sheep. Mark opened with a Rancher game plan and was able to get some early plows plus stables when building his first room. Brian embarked on an early grain plan in order to set up his Straw Thatched Roof and got 3 grain fields sown in stage 1 with help from his Seasonal Worker and Acreage. Micah had a strong game plan for a big stone house, with a Mason and Master Builder in hand. However, his game stalled while having to take Start Player multiple times for Family Growth when it refused to flip in rounds 5 and 6, giving some momentum to the rest of the table. Riley stayed on a 3 room house and got solid efficiency from a Swing Plow, raising his point floor. However, when Brian played Clay Plasterer and Frame Builder, his clay rooms would cost him just 1 wood and 1 clay each. This steep discount, along with enough stone, allowed him to construct a 7 room stone house! After gathering enough animals and maintaining excellent crops, his 53 point game ended up well ahead of Riley (46), Mark (41), and Micah (40) in the late-growth affair.
Some Agricola games are closer than others, and the Semifinal featuring all-time laurels leader Sceadeau facing off against multiple-time semifinalists Robbie Mitchell, Ricky Boyes, and Derek Glenn was one of the others. In this game, Sceadeau was able to get Family Growth first in round 5. With support from his Carpenter’s Apprentice and Wood Cart, he was able to keep the pressure on room parts, gathering them aggressively throughout the midgame. Room parts and threatening growth is often useless without enough food, but Sceadeau neatly had that side of things covered in part with a round 6 Carter play which led to a 6 wood plus 6 food move in round 7. Food was an issue for the others at this point, especially with Ricky’s Harpooner fighting Robbie’s Brewery Pond for access to Fishing. This fight allowed Sceadeau’s second move of round 7 to be building a room… and his third action Family growth. After growing a final time in round 10, Sceadeau rounded off his farm nicely and put up a 60 point game, well ahead of Robbie (50), Ricky (40), and Derek (31).
The next-closest Revised edition semifinal pitted triple-winners Alex and Andrew against Sam Wolff and Reid Barkell. In what ended up being a relatively hungry game, Sam’s Cesspit and a big sheep grab propelled him to a fine score of 50, ahead of Andrew (43), Reid (38), and Alex (36.) Some minor drama was overheard in the midgame after a player forgot to grow, but thankfully no GM intervention was needed.
The remaining Semifinal was a matchup of Lumin, Ryan Feathers, Kristin Kim, and Eric Peffer. All four were quite familiar with each of the others Agricola skills, as their paths have crossed many times in recent years. Ryan made an unconventional choice for his first draft pick, choosing Charcoal Burner (which tends to be weaker in non-EIK formats) over Acquirer. While the Charcoal Burner didn’t pay off hugely for Ryan, the Acquirer he passed to Lumin didn’t do too much harm either, adding more food to a game that saw Family Growth flip in round 5. As the game progressed, all players were in strong positions with winning chances. The endgame was a tight one and Ryan (49) prevailed with a one-point win over Kristin (48). Should other aspects of the endgame have gone differently, such as the round 12 action space flip or certain blocking opportunities being taken, the win certainly could have gone to another player. Lumin’s 46 and Eric’s 40 filled out the scoreboard of the Semifinal’s closest table.
The Final brought together a familiar mix of veterans and fresh faces and was overseen by AGM Robbie Mitchell following a rescheduling. Sceadeau returned to the Final once again to extend his all-time laurels lead. Ryan made his third consecutive Final appearance, an incredibly impressive feat in one of WBC’s most competitive fields. Sam returned to the big stage for the first time since 2019, while Brian made a splash in his WBC debut. After a random seat draw, Brian landed in seat one, followed by Sam, Sceadeau, and Ryan (a third consecutive fourth seat draw in a Final, much to his chagrin).
At the 2024 Final, Ryan and Sceadeau agreed they were glad to be playing the last Original edition Final table of Agricola. Now in 2025, they both were quite pleased to be playing the first Revised edition Final table. This was an unfortunate break for Brian, who is an original edition specialist with hundreds of games of experience, but almost none with the revised edition card pool. The draft therefore took up almost 40 minutes as the finalists, Brian particularly, studied and read the cards while making their choices. It’s important to be careful here though, as much of the game is shaped by the drafted cards.
The strength of the occupations also led to plenty of tough decisions. Ryan’s grousing about fourth seat evaporated pretty rapidly when he saw a Cow Prince in his opening pack. Brian elected to take a Champion Breeder over a Carpenter’s Apprentice, which Ryan was happy to see second. Sceadeau was able to build his game around a Forest Reviewer and found a District Manager to pair with it. Sam found a fun combo of Stallwright and Animal Teacher to build around. Overall, each of the players had multiple strong options after the occupation draft:
- Brian’s Occupations: Champion Breeder, Pioneer, Stockman, Land Heir, Retail Dealer, Lumberjack, Motivator
- Sam’s Occupations: Stallwright, Hedge Keeper, Animal Teacher, Pet Lover, Stone Buyer, Packaging Artist, Adoptive Parents
- Sceadeau’s Occupations: Forest Reviewer, District Manager, Recreational Carpenter, Wares Salesman, Mineralogist, Pig Stalker, Joiner of the Sea
- Ryan’s Occupations: Cow Prince, Carpenter’s Apprentice, Dairy Crier, Task Artisan, Midwife, Recluse, Small Scale Farmer
The minor improvements also took some time to draft, but for a somewhat different reason. While the occupations had numerous strong cards, the minors had only a few bright spots. Brian found a Loom to go with his Champion Breeder plans. Sam’s Cooking Hearth Extension would pair nicely with the animals he would get from his Animal Teacher. Sceadeau was able to find some minor improvements that worked nicely with all the extra reed he planned to have from Forest Reviewer. Ryan’s main excitement was a Feed Fence to further help discount stables with his Carpenter’s Apprentice and to help solidify his shaky food:
- Brian’s Minor Improvements: Loom, Paintbrush, Land Register, Sculpture Course, Strawberry Patch, Debt Security, Hunting Trophy
- Sam’s Minor Improvements: Sack Cart, Cooking Hearth Extension, Telegram, Lumber Pile, Moldboard Plow, Feedyard, Loppers
- Sceadeau’s Minor Improvements: Straw Hat, Cow Patty, Farm Building, Chicken Coop, Grain Depot, Junk Room, Store of Experience
- Ryan’s Minor Improvements: Feed Fence, Hod, Potter’s Yard, Silage, Town Hall, Seed Pellets, Night Loot
Shortly after the draft, as the game was about to start, Sam was looking through his hand with growing concern. He declared that he was missing a card. Action was paused as everyone looked around the floor and nearby areas and discussion began on how to resolve this. Some days as GM, you have to make difficult calls. And some days as GM, you just have to wander over to a player’s hand, notice one of their cards seems a bit thicker than the others, and calmly reveal the “missing” card was there all along. With this issue resolved, the action got underway.
Round one saw Brian play his Retail Dealer while Sceadeau put out his Forest Reviewer. Sceadeau got his reed two moves later after Ryan and Brian took the 3 wood and 2 wood, respectively. Sceadeau put that reed to immediate use with a Straw Hat on Start Player. He played District Manager soon after and then got to use it after moving off of plow in round 3. Ryan managed to snag Resource Market (reed, stone, food) in front of Brian twice along with playing his Task Artisan, Feed Fence, and Carpenter’s Apprentice. Among all the room parts gathering by all, Sam was busy securing a Cooking Hearth and playing its namesake Extension. Brian got his Land Heir down and played a Loom. In round 4, Brian was able to take Resource Market for the first time and activate his Retail Dealer, while Sceadeau continued to use his Forest Reviewer reed for minor improvements, playing a Chicken Coop. Ryan simply fished and built the first room, and Sam played his Animal Teacher and bought a cow. In the harvest, Sam got to do the very cool double cooking of his cow for an insane 8 food while the rest fed normally.
Family Growth flipped in round 5, and Ryan had the only room. He was able to take the 5 food on Traveling Players and then grow, but only after some deliberation if he should instead wait a round and push everyone’s growths back. Sceadeau played his Recreational Carpenter, knowing it would let him build a room at the end of the round and grow first in round 6. Brian built a room that allowed him to grow in round 7, after he took Start Player in round 6 with a Sculpture Course that answered his food needs for a while. Now that the others were growing in a somewhat normal queue, Ryan played Midwife for a steady supply of grain. He continued securing resources which he used to build another room and used his discounts to build all 4 of his stables for only 4 wood and 1 clay, receiving 6 food for doing so. Sam took the pile of sheep and used Animal Teacher to buy cows while playing his occupations of Stallwright and Adoptive Parents. The Stallwright stables allowed him to breed cattle in the stage 2 harvest, locking in his food for the rest of the game. Sceadeau continued acquiring plows and wood during this stage, getting his farming going along with using Recreational Carpenter again to build a fourth room.
In stage 3, Sam grew with Loppers and Sceadeau obtained his fourth family member in round 9 while playing yet another reed-costing minor in Farm Building. Ryan used this stage to acquire more wood, while also getting in some plows and sowing 3 grain fields. Brian fenced for 9 and played Lumberjack, while also getting three sheep for his Loom. Sam continued playing his occupations, getting a Stone Buyer and Hedge Keeper on the table. Sceadeau looked over at Ryan’s Hod injecting clay and countered that by buying the Pottery.
At the start of stage 4, stone flipped and Task Artisan allowed Ryan to play a Potter’s Yard. Ryan immediately got to use it when he plowed, trading the clay for 2 food. Sceadeau grabbed more wood, once again triggering his District Manager. Brian’s fences welcomed 2 boar to his farm, while Sam used his Loppers and Hedge Keeper combo to fence and pick up bonus points and food. At this point late in the midgame, Ryan was still the only player to have touched Fishing or Traveling Players, and the food continued to grow there. Sceadeau was feeding via trickles, plus his big hits from District Manager. Sam was enjoying his Cooking Hearth Extension and breeding cows. Brian had his Sculpture Course activated frequently, and his Loom was giving him food at this point too. Ryan considered the bottom feeding spots once again but decided he too can be better fed by just renovating with the Stone Oven and baking grain. Sam removed some of his stables for a bunch of wood with Lumber Pile, while Ryan grew with a Silage and Brian played his Champion Breeder. Sceadeau secured a Basketmaker’s Workshop. Sam built a room with his newfound wood and played a late Moldboard Plow, revealing some help for plows. Sceadeau collected crops and sowed his fields. With the Pottery gone and all the extra clay from his Hod, Ryan decided to build a fifth room. Brian renovated with a Fireplace, ensuring he can eat his animals. Sam also used his fencing combo again.
Going into the final three rounds, the game was still very much undecided: Brian had some fences with breeding sheep and boars, which was a nice combo with his Loom and Champion Breeder. However, he was the only player stuck on three rooms and family members and was light on plows and other card points.
Sam had great food and was still breeding animals in his fences but had no plows. He did have the Moldboard Plow down, but was there enough time for him to get to use that, finish fencing, and renovate his house to find enough points? Sceadeau had gotten in a good number of plows and his crop engine was going nicely, plus he had locked down a Pottery and Basketmaker’s Workshop. However, with Sam’s fencing combo getting in the way, he and Ryan had been blocked from having any fences. Sceadeau didn’t have the stables that Ryan did, either, so his animals were lacking. Ryan had pushed to a five-room clay house and had a good number of sown fields, but he had yet to put animals in his stables and was feeling the fencing pressure.
In round 12, Sam caught a break with Family Growth flipping, which he instantly got to use and trigger Adoptive Parents once again. Sceadeau got to use his District Manager for a third time. Ryan snagged his first animal of the game, a much-needed cow. Brian got to work on his lacking fields. Sam continued his midgame monopolization of the Fencing action space, getting more fences and another Loppers activation. Brian took Starting Player with a Hunting Trophy. Sam took 4 sheep, and Sceadeau grabbed 3 stone. Ryan played a Dairy Crier, making Sam sad he had just taken an action to secure sheep. Brian built his stables, triggering Stockman to greatly improve his animal situation. Sceadeau renovated to clay and got down a Cow Patty. Ryan grew with a Feed Pellets, and at the end of the round, used his Silage to breed a cow!
At the start of round 13, the food stacks on Traveling Players and Fishing had grown to 8 and 9 food, respectively. Food? Players had other priorities! Brian led off with Cultivation to plow a field and sow a grain and vegetable. Sam got use of his Moldboard Plow for the first time on Farmland. Sceadeau immediately snapped Fences, thankful that Sam didn’t keep the pressure on. Ryan immediately responded with Start Player nada (no minor improvement,) knowing he couldn’t risk getting blocked on fencing. Brian took 4 stone, knowing he now could renovate as the second player in the final round. Sam renovated to clay, and Sceadeau wheeled the Family Growth without room. Ryan took more wood, finally obtaining enough to fully fence. Brian got the second cow he needed to fully activate Champion Breeder. Sceadeau also secured 3 boar to put in his new fences. Ryan finished out the stage by taking a vegetable and sowing, plus continued to be the only player to bottom feed, by taking the aforementioned 9 food from Fishing.
Ryan opened round 14 with the action he started for Fencing and he put down all his fences with the help of the Carpenter’s Apprentice. This allowed Brian to take Farm Redevelopment for renovation with fences, smoothly utilizing his Hunting Trophy for three free fence pieces. Sam needed to renovate to stone, and he took the Joinery as his major improvement. This allowed Sceadeau to use Cultivation, and his sow action was boosted by the Cow Patty. Ryan once again sowed, plus he got to bake in his Stone Oven. Brian took another field. Sam finished things out by taking a vegetable and a bunch of wood for the Joinery. Brian got to grow as everyone else was at five people already. Sceadeau finished the game out with 2 sheep and filled out his Pottery and Basketmaker’s Workshop bonuses. Ryan snagged the boar, played a Town Hall, and revealed the Cow Prince that the table suspected.
It was a close one, and Ryan emerged victorious by a single point over Sceadeau, 53 to 52. Ryan and Sceadeau’s farms were remarkably similar with many clay rooms, good fields and crops, and nice pastures with decent animals. Ryan’s 4 stables and 5 points from Cow Prince were able to edge out Sceadeau’s maxed-out guilds. Brian earned third place with 49 points. He had excellent pastures and animals but had a few empty spaces, along with the smallest house and fewest family members. Sam ended with 45, being a bit lighter on crops and plows, and having the most empty spaces.
For Ryan, it was the culmination of a remarkable arc of steady improvement. In 2018 he showed up to his first WBC, and in his first game ever at the convention he lost an Agricola game to Sam Wolff and Ben Scholl. That first year, he didn’t get a single Heat win in Agricola. In 2019, he got that Heat win but didn’t make the cut to the Semifinal. In 2022, he broke through to the Semifinal but then lost there. In 2023, he took 4th place overall. In 2024, he lost the Final by a single point, and now in 2025 he got the win by a single point. The joy on his face for having achieved this milestone was unmistakable and persisted for the next several days.
With a single point separating first and second for the second year in a row, the Agricola Final once again delivered a nail-biting finish. For Ryan, it was the culmination of a seven-year journey from newcomer to champion. As the 13th unique winner in 16 years, he now stands on the cusp of history in a couple of possible ways. He can tie Mike Kaltman’s four straight final appearances next year or even become the first champion to repeat in the event’s history.
Lastly, I couldn’t have run this year’s Agricola tournament without lots of support, with extra loud shout-outs to Mike Munson and AGMs Ryan Feathers and Robbie Mitchell. I am further thankful to all players who showed up and proved that Agricola is not only alive and well online but is also alive and well at WBC. The format, specifically, the threshold for having Original edition Semifinal and Final, seemed to work very well for both the players and for my goals as GM, so I currently expect to keep it the same for next year. Format comments and suggestions are welcome: important parts of this year’s format were based on AJ Jiang’s suggestions, so thanks to him as well. I look forward to seeing another strong helping of cardboard farming next year!
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Sperling, Lumin [1st Year]