attika [Updated October 2006]  

2006 WBC Report  

2007 Status: pending 2007 GM commitment

Bruce Reiff, OH

2006 Champion

Offsite links:

     

Event History
2004    Jeff Mullet     55
2005    Nate Hoam     54
2006    Bruce Reiff     29

 Laurels

 Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
   1.  Jeff Mullet        OH    06     45
   2.  Bruce Reiff        OH    06     32
   3.  Nate Hoam          OH    05     30
   4.  Jim Castonguay     PA    06     26
   5.  Lucimara Martins   MD    04     18
   6.  Dan Broh-Kahn      MD    04     12
   7.  Eugene Lin         WA    05      9
   8.  Cliff Ackman       PA    04      9
   9.  Roderick Lee       CA    06      6
  10.  Fred Minard        PA    05      6
  11.  Andy Lewis         DE    04      6
  12.  Valerie Hill       UT    06      4
  13.  George Sauer       OH    04      3
  14.  Lyman Moquin       DC    06      2

2006 Laurelists

Jeff Mullet, OH
2nd

Jim Castonguay, PA
3rd

Roderick Lee, CA
4th

Valerie Hall, UT
5th

Lyman Moquin, DC
6th


Past Winners

Jeff Mullet, OH
2004

Nate Hoam, OH
2005


 Bruce Reiff (left) on the way to his first of four championships against Doug Galullo while his sidekick, Jeff Mullet, takes on Chris Greenfield in the background.

 Ann Norton (left) schools Amelia Engelmann at Attika. She would fall in the quarter-finals but go on to win three events at WBC 2006.

 Tom DeMarco opens WBC with Attika. The Pre-Con status and switch in format from heats to Swiss-Elim and from 4-player to 2-player cut player totals by nearly half.

The First Euro Action of the Week ...

After two relatively successful years of being on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at WBC proper, Attika moved to a Monday morning Pre-con as part of the Sampler Showcase.  While the Showcase (featuring many Euros that have not yet cracked the WBC lineup) officially began at noon on Monday, Attika had an 11:00 a.m. start. Its inclusion in the Showcase as a package deal was a hedged bet to increase the attraction to Euros fans, but it was arguable whether the tournament supported the demos or the other way around. The first two years,  Attika had 50+ players.  But no one could predict how many would show up for a eEuro Pre-con.  As the over/under was set at16, we were pleased to get 29 players. 
 
Previously, the event had been run as a four-player game.  Many players had expressed a desire for two-player games, so I decided to give it a try.  I feel there is a little more luck in the two-player version.  But in the four-player game, newer players tend to not block players about to win and can sometimes accidently "throw" the game to the player on their left.  However, the downside to the two-player version is obvious.  We'd need twice as many games.  Luckily, many players heeded the call and the Sampler organizers lent us one of theirs. (Thanks)
 
There were four rounds played, with three wins being needed to advance to a single elimination bracket.  Players with equal records were matched up whenever possible.  In the four player version, I had always allowed 90 minutes.  But the two-player game plays much faster, so only one hour was permitted.  While I came dangerously close to having to adjudicate some games, thankfully I never had to.  When the preliminaries ended, there were eight players with the needed three wins.  A very fortuitous number which eliminated the need for byes.

In the Quarter-Finas, Roderick Lee defeated young gun, Rebecca Hebner - the first person to "homer" at WBC with four plaques in one year.  I beat the always dangerous Lyman Moquin.  2005 Laurelist, Jim Castonguay finished off Anne Norton who nonetheless went on to win three events at this WBC while Bruce Reiff edged out newcomer Valerie Hall.  The Manly Men teammates emerged from the Final Four to advance to the Final.
 
Even Bruce will admit that I usually beat him at this game at CABS meetings, but this was for blood, err wood ... and you know Bruce when he gets the scent of wood.  When I looked at my opening hand and saw all the same resource, I thought that might be a bad sign.  On Bruce's first turn, he built three buildings, all for free!  It went downhill from there.  I had to spend most of my cards soon after to block Bruce from the auto win and could never catch up.  As the game was coming to a close, Bruce kept commenting how I was going to win.  Finally, I told him, I'd bet him the winner has to get the loser's Cokes for two months at the club.  He declined.  Then I said  I'd give him two to one odds.  One month to my two.  He said no again, but he'd do it for four months to two months.
 
Someone behind us stated one of us could throw the game to get a lot of free Cokes.  Another bystander stated "You don't know these two guys, do you?"  Thirty seconds later, I had two months worth of free Cokes and Bruce walked away with his first wood of the week.  Not even WBC proper yet, and Don Greenwood's week was already ruined.
 
Thanks to all who participated and especially to those who brought games.  I hope to see many more of you next year.

 GM      Jeff Mullet  [3rd Year]   NA
   JAMullet@frognet.net   NA

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