- Results
-
- Andrew Emerick
- Eric Freeman
- Rob Kircher
- Sceadeau D’Tela
- Randy Buehler
- Eugene Yee
- Total Participants:
- 150
- Total Games Played:
- 166
- Coordinator
- Brian Stallings
All good things must come to an end. Eric Freeman had dominated the Wild Card competition, winning five titles in six years, with the only break coming in 2006 when Eric was forced to miss his only EuroQuest due to a special family event. He had staved off several challengers to his throne in that time, notably Raphael Lehrer who in 2009 had come within a game or two of dethroning Eric. This year, notice was served from the very first game when the current WBC Navegador Champion, Andrew Emerick, challenged Eric to a game right after the completion of the 3:30 PM Thursday demo. Andrew won that game, then several others to move swiftly to the top of the Wild Card leaderboard. While there was significant ebb and flow in the standings over the next couple of days, Andrew and Eric separated themselves from the rest of the pack, playing game after game with each other.
Andrew and Eric wound up each playing 29 Wild Card games, including 18 against each other. Andrew won a total of 16 games, compared to 10 for Eric. Translating this into Wild Card points, Andrew wound up posting an all-time Wild Card record score of 393, compared to 338 for Eric. Both bested the all-time Wild Card points record, which was 334 set by Eric in 2009 and 2010. Rounding out the top three was perennial Wild Card contender Rob Kircher, now a top three Wild Card finisher for the third year in succession.
Andrew provides some insights on his approach to the Wild Card competition in the following detailed notes, starting out with the observation that he felt obligated to take on Eric (the perennial Wild Card Champ) in support of teammates Randy Buehler and Sceadeau D’Tela:
I was undecided on whether to do the regular events or take a serious run at the wild card event, but that indecision went away when Randy contacted me to fill in for the member of his team that couldn’t make it. I was very confident that I’d probably score better at the wild card event than the regular set (both because of the format, and because on average, I knew the wild card games better), and I knew I’d have fun either way, so I went with the strategic decision, which turned out to have paid in spades as Randy and Sceadeau pulled out their last-second finishes.
I didn’t really know what to expect going in, but I knew that there would be a Navegador game right at the start, with it having a demo right beforehand, and so I figured I’d start things off on the right foot by playing my best game head to head against Eric. That worked out, but frankly, Eric did extremely well for his first game of Navegador, taking 2nd and making me worry about winning, so I knew I was in for a fight.
For quite a lot of the con, I played head to head against Eric. All of Thursday, all of Friday less one game, and a game or two on Saturday before we parted ways, having maxed out different games. That too was a strategic decision, as I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find games as readily as him, not knowing hardly anybody there, I figured if I just played in Eric’s games, I wouldn’t need to worry about finding games, I’d just need to worry about winning them. Thankfully, finding games turned out to be no problem Saturday afternoon and evening, where I found wild card games that I didn’t have maxed out fairly easily and quickly. Of course, that could also be a function of it having been Saturday, and thus more people were around.
It was very interesting sitting down at a table and having the scorekeeper recognize my name from the leaderboard upon presenting my badge. That happened a few times, and was pretty cool to have people I didn’t know cheering me on.
It was also very interesting playing so many games at such high intensity for so long. Most interesting was how that intensity was present even in the lightest games I played. I’ve never played a game of Can’t Stop at 100% before.
In the end, it was really, really close. On Sunday morning I found myself up 45 points against Eric. I fully expected that would mean we’d be playing two long games, probably Troyes and Automobile, and I’d need to win one. He ended up conceding at that point to get some extra time with his family, but I was worried, because those aren’t terribly strong games for me. I’ve played Automobile only once, though I won, and I’ve played Troyes a handful of times, but lost more than I’ve won.
So for me, the point in which I knew I had it was when I watched him walk out of the hotel.
We played a large number of games against each other, and quite a number of them were really close. I won our second encounter in Endeavor by 1 point, and it was a game I thought I’d surely lost, not getting past level 2 buildings until the very last turn when I got a single level 3 building. The last two turns of that game was an amazing comeback. I was probably down 10, maybe 15 points at the beginning of the 7th turn.
I lost our first game of RftG by 5 points, due to making a silly greedy play when I was already ahead.
I won our first game of Can’t Stop by a thin margin, after Eric got one marker all the way to the top and two others just 1 and 2 steps away, I decided on my turn I had to bet everything on winning 6s from around 6 steps away. I’d take any numbers I needed to to get into 6s and roll until I won it or busted, and that gamble paid out.
I lost our first game of Alhambra (one of two games in the WC event I didn’t know coming in) by a very thin margin. I thought for sure I had him after taking control of white due to a fortuitous tile flip, but ended up losing by 5 points (I think).
I don’t remember how close our Egizia games were, but having only played that game once before coming into EQ, I was surprised and very happy to go 2 for 2 against Eric in that event.
Another point to note was a 5-player Vegas Showdown I played, but not against Eric. I ended up taking the win there by 2 bucks on the tiebreaker, for another 18 point swing. Winning that game was important, because I had already run out of games I was good at, and was searching for points on games I wasn’t so good at. I had no hope of maxing out Vegas Showdown, having lost twice at it already, with no points to show, even from 2nd or 3rd places, so those 28 points on such a distinct off-event for me was a big deal at the time.
Playing long events against Eric is where I built my early lead. I believe we played 6 class B events against each other, and I managed to win 5 of them. We didn’t end up playing any class A events against each other. I think I stayed about 1 or 2 games ahead of him for pretty much the entire convention.
I ended up losing quite a lot of points in class C events, which aren’t as many points, but still substantial. I think I went 3 for 11 there (only winning once against Eric), with a large number of 2nd places.
THE SCORECARD — ANDREW versus ERIC
This details the results in the 18 head-to-head games played between the two at EuroQuest 2011.
GAME TITLE NO. ANDREW ERIC (wins in parens) 7 Wonders 3 17 (1) 14 (1) Alhambra 2 12 45 (2) Can't Stop 2 22 (2) 0 Carcassone 1 28 (1) 0 Egizia 2 64 (2) 24 Endeavor 2 32 (1) 44 (1) Navegador 2 64 (2) 26 Race for Galaxy 2 12 48 (2) Roll thr the Ages 1 10 (1) 2 Vegas Showdown 1 0 9 TOTAL 18 261 (10) 212 (6) OVERALL SUMMARY ANDREW ERIC Class A games 35 (1) 40 (1) Class B games 160 (5) 122 (3) Class C games 126 (3) 130 (3) Class D games 72 (7) 46 (3) TOTAL 393 (16) 338 (10)
The intensely close battle between Andrew and Eric was tracked by the computerized scoring system which constantly displayed results on an overhead projector. By 8 PM Friday, Andrew had built a 57-point lead (187-130) over Eric. By the close of the day, though, Eric had reduced the gap to just 12 (234 to 212). By late morning on Saturday Andrew’s lead was just 15 (255 to 240). At this point, Andrew put on a surge that carried him well past the 300-point level. By Sunday morning, though, Eric had run up the white flag, ending an epic marathon battle in defense of the title he has owned the past four years. Final Wild Card point totals: Andrew Emerick, first (393 points); Eric Freeman, second (338 points); Rob Kircher, third (191 points); Sceadeau D’Tela, fourth (153 points); Randy Buehler, fifth (136 points); Eugene Yee, sixth (136 points).
The competition among the 15 Wild Card games revealed the following overall pattern:
Title Games Played No. Players 7 Wonders 14 49 Alhambra 7 23 Automobile 2 8 Can't Stop 24 55 Carcassonne 15 34 Egizia 14 36 Eminent Domain 12 32 Endeavor 5 17 Lost Cities 21 29 Merchants & Marauders 1 3 Navegador 5 18 Race for the Galaxy 7 11 Roll Through the Ages 16 34 Troyes 5 16 Vegas Showdown 10 33
Once again, the shorter games — topped by Can’t Stop — led the way although Egizia put in a respectable showing for a longer game. Also, 7 Wonders (the game duplicated as a main event and a Wild Card) followed a similar pattern to its predecessor, Dominion, being played less this year than last, and played less in comparison to the main event tournament.
Here is a tabulation of how the top 10 in this year’s Wild Card event earned their points:
TOP TEN FINISHERS (HOW THEY EARNED THEIR POINTS):
| 1. Andrew Emerick | 393 | (7 Wonders — 16 Alhambra — 22 Can’t Stop — 37 Egizia — 64 Eminent Domain — 10 Endeavor — 32 Navegador — 64 Race for the Galaxy — 39 Roll Through the Ages — 24 Troyes — 35 Vegas Showdown — 28) |
| 2. Eric Freeman | 338 | (7 Wonders — 18 Alhambra — 45 Can’t Stop — 2 Egizia — 48 Eminent Domain — 12 Endeavor — 44 Navegador — 30 Race for the Galaxy — 48 Roll Through the Ages — 14 Troyes — 40 Vegas Showdown — 37) |
| 3. Rob Kircher | 191 | (7 Wonders — 18 Can’t Stop — 24 Egizia — 56 Eminent Domain — 14 Endeavor — 32 Race for the Galaxy — 30 Roll Through the Ages — 14 Vegas Showdown — 3) |
| 4. Sceadeau D’Tela | 153 | (7 Wonders — 5 Egizia — 60 Eminent Domain — 24 Lost Cities — 24 Roll Through the Ages — 12 Vegas Showdown — 28) |
| 5. Randy Buehler | 136 | (Can’t Stop — 10 Egizia — 28 Eminent Domain — 2 Lost Cities — 14 Navegador — 32 Race for the Galaxy — 3 Roll through the Ages — 16 Vegas Showdown — 31) |
| 6. Eugene Yee | 112 | (7 Wonders — 5 Can’t Stop — 2 Egizia — 32 Endeavor — 32 Roll through the Ages — 13 Vegas Showdown — 28) |
| 7. Vien Bounma | 92 | (Alhambra — 21 Carcassone — 21 Eminent Domain — 12 Navegador — 38) |
| 8. Raphael Lehrer | 91 | (Egizia — 32 Lost Cities — 7 Navegador — 12 Race for the Galaxy — 15 Roll through the Ages — 10 Troyes — 15) |
| 9. Richard Shay | 89 | (Alhambra — 28 Egizia — 28 Eminent Domain — 12 Race for the Galaxy — 15 Roll through the Ages — 6) |
| 10. Donna Dearborn | 81 | (7 Wonders — 2 Alhambra — 24 Can’t Stop — 24 Carcassone — 21 Vegas Showdown — 10) |
Other highlights from this year’s Wild Card tournament:
- Perrrianne Lurie, who is thus far the only person to play all 15 titles in a single Wild Card tourney, this year led the way by playing in 13 different titles — each game being played exactly once. Perrianne did not win any of these games, however, and finished with just 25 Wild Card points, good for 34th place.
- Sceadeau D’Tela won 11 of 13 Wild Card games played, but because most of his wins were in the shorter Class D games, he was unable to contend for a top three finish.
- Vien Bounma went undefeated, winning all four Wild Card games played. This was good for 7 th place overall, with 92 Wild Card points.
- Only two players were able to defeat both of the top Wild Card finishers, Andrew and Eric, in the same game: Cliff Ackman (7 Wonders) and John Weber (Vegas Showdown). The other 16 games featuring head-to-head battles were won by either Andrew or Eric.
POINTS LEADERS FOR EACH TITLE
| 7 Wonders | (Max. 24): | Eric Freeman (18), Rob Kircher (18) |
| Alhambra | (Max. 48): | Eric Freeman (45) |
| Automobile | (Max. 80): | Rod Spade (40), John Weber (40) |
| Can’t Stop | (Max. 24): | Donna Dearborn (24), Rob Kircher (24) |
| Carcassonne | (Max. 48): | Andrew Emerick (37) |
| Egizia | (Max. 64): | Andrew Emerick (64) |
| Eminent Domain | (Max. 24): | Sceadeau D’Tela (24) |
| Endeavor | (Max. 64): | Eric Freeman (44) |
| Lost Cities | (Max. 24): | Sceadeau D’Tela (24) |
| Merchants & Marauders | (Max. 80): | Cliff Ackman (35) |
| Navegador | (Max. 64): | Andrew Emerick (64) |
| Race for the Galaxy | (Max. 48): | Eric Freeman (48) |
| Roll Through the Ages | (Max. 24): | Andrew Emerick (24) |
| Troyes | (Max. 80): | Barb Flaxington (40), Eric Freeman (40), Lyman Moquin (40) |
| Vegas Showdown | (Max. 48): | Eric Freeman (37) |
NUMBER OF GAMES WON
| Andrew Emerick | 16 |
| Sceadeau D’Tela | 11 |
| Eric Freeman | 10 |
| Rob Kircher | 9 |
| Randy Buehler | 7 |
MASTER OF ALL TRADES (NUMBER OF DIFFERENT GAMES WON)
| Andrew Emerick | 11 |
| Eric Freeman | 8 |
| Rob Kircher | 7 |
| Randy Buehler | 6 |
| Sceadeau D’Tela | 5 |
| Al Autovino | 4 |
| Vien Bounma | 4 |
| Raphael Lehrer | 4 |
| Richard Shay | 4 |
| Eugene Yee | 4 |
JACK OF ALL TRADES (NUMBER OF DIFFERENT GAMES PLAYED)
| Perrianne Lurie | 13 |
| Andrew Emerick | 12 |
| Eric Freeman | 12 |
| James Freeman | 10 |
| Rob Kircher | 9 |
| Randy Buehler | 8 |
TOP WILD CARD HUSTLERS (TOTAL NUMBER OF WILD CARD GAMES PLAYED)
| Andrew Emerick | 29 |
| Eric Freeman | 29 |
| James Freeman | 19 |
| Rob Kircher | 18 |
| Sceadeau D’Tela | 13 |
| Perrianne Lurie | 13 |
| Barb Flaxington | 12 |
| Raphael Lehrer | 12 |
| Eugene Yee | 12 |
NEW CATEGORY — QUALITY INDEX (Average No. Points Per Game; Minimum of 5 Games Played)
| Cliff Ackman | 15.00 |
| Andrew Emerick | 13.55 |
| John Weber | 12.83 |
| Richard Shay | 12.71 |
| Randy Buehler | 12.36 |
| Sceadeau D’Tela | 11.77 |
| Eric Freeman | 11.66 |
| Rob Kircher | 10.61 |
