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Winner: Ken Carpenter for Crab.
Ken plays a Crab oni / dishonor hybrid, defeating Steve Swarner, playing Lion. Ken went on to be the lead designer of the Clan War miniatures wargame. Click here for the winning deck list.
Storyline result: Hida Yakamo (Experienced) is able to attach the Ancestral Sword of the Hantei for free. (Crimson & Jade)
Winner: Chris Bergstrom for Lion.
Chris plays a Lion speed deck, defeating Rob Kramer, playing a honor running Crane. Click here for a detailed report and winning deck list. Click here for a picture of the notes I scribbled to write an article about the tournament for InQuest.I thought this might convey a bit of the whirl and excitement of John Wick's final story.
Storyline result: Toturi is declared the new Emperor. Also, InQuest magazine prints a special chromium stronghold commemorating the Lion's win.
Personal note: The tournament organizers want to make sure every clan has a shot at the top 32, so they have 12 "wild card" slots for people playing in sealed deck skirmishes throughout the con. The top skirmisher for each clan goes into the final 32. I win the wild card slot for Crab, so I get to play in the top 32. I get beaten by a Monk deck, thanks to not-great playing and not-great gold.
Winner: David La for Lion.
David caught everyone off guard with a corrupt Lion deck, famously using Oni no Akuma. He defeated Chris Jilot, playing Unicorn (military) in the finals. Click here for a detailed report and winning deck list.
Storyline result: Oddly, this had a surprisingly diffuse impact. Everyone anticipated an Experienced Kitsu Okura with the Jade Champion trait, but it never happened, for unknown reasons. The flavour text on Mantle of the Jade Champion makes the most direct reference to the tournament outcome. This tournament result did set off the Oni no Okura storyline thread, and was arguably the main justification for The Kitsu Tombs stronghold.
Personal note: I am soundly beaten in the one qualifier I play in.
Winner: Bret Swanson for the Brotherhood of Shinsei.
Bret's playing House of Tao, and starting with the Ring of Water in play. His Water Monk military defeated Stefan Zarzynski, playing a House of Tao Enlightenment deck. Click here for a detailed report.
Storyline result: Takao defeats the champion of the Lord of the Moon, Onnotangu. The promo event War in the Heavens commemorates the Monk win.
Personal note: Unable to attend (living in Australia that year) and hungry for gossip, I hopped on the IRC #l5r channel the weekend of GenCon. I predicted a Monk win. I got laughed at.
Winner: Justin Walsh for Phoenix.
Justin was playing "old school" Sacred Temples Phoenix with many scaly dragons, beating Vu Nguyen, playing Shadowlands. Hailing from Ireland, Justin becomes the first player from outside the U.S. to win the Worlds. He pulled off the remarkable feat of winning GenCon UK (field of 99 players) a few weeks later with much the same deck. Click here for a detailed report and the winning deck list.
Storyline result: Multiple repercussions of this one. The Shadow Dragon traces its origin directly back to the Air Dragon being tainted in the finals.
Winner: Jonathan "Scrub" Rigsby for Shadowlands.
Jon played a Goblin blitz deck, defeating Conrad Jackson, playing Lion. Jon took the exact same deck and won Dragon*Con (field of 52 players) a few weeks later, winning the east coast half of the "Test of the Master Smith" storyline tournament. Click here for a detailed report and the winning deck list.
Storyline result: Multiple. The event Darkest Winter, Miya Genseiken (Experienced Oni no Pekkle), and the Steel Throne being a Shadowlands card all arguably trace their origins back to the Shadowlands win here.
Winner: Eugene Earnshaw-Whyte for Scorpion.
Eugene earned a spot in the finals by winning the Toronto Kotei. He played a corrupt Towers of the Yogo deck and defeated Conrad Jackson (runner up for two consecutive years!), playing Shadowlands. Eugene is the first Canadian to win the Worlds. Click here for a detailed report and the winning deck list.
Storyline result: Toturi Tsudao declares herself Empress.
Personal note: I have 4 wins, 3 losses in the Thursday qualifier (a winning record surprises me). On the Friday qualifer, I get 5 wins and 2 losses, which puts me 15th. Only sixteen players advance to the semi-finals from this qualifer (the other three qualifiers take the top 32). I get 2 wins and 5 losses in the semi-finals, finishing 91st. I feel better about this placing than being in the top 32 in 1997, because I felt I deserved this one: I fought my way in and played much better.
Storyline result: There were many results from this tournament, including the coronation of Hantei Naseru as Toturi III and the death of Toturi Tsudao. There were no outcomes from the winning deck being predominantly Ratling.
Personal note: I get drummed in the first qualifer, with five straight losses, two no-shows, and finally a win in the very last round. The second qualifier is better, as I go even: four wins, four losses. I might have had a winning record in the second qualifer save for truly stupid playing in one game. Regardless, I end the tournament feeling like everyone decided to metagame again me -- personally! -- because I just ran into deck after deck that had my number, and had things that were particularly effective against the "big unit" style of deck I was playing.
Winner: Salman Barakat for Crab. Click here for more details.
It was an all Crab final this year. Salman (who, confusingly, lives near Kalsruhe, Germany, but was going to school in England at the time, and won the Irish Kotei earlier in the year) defeated Jason Aken, who was using the same stronghold (Razo's Edge Dojo) and Wind (Black Heart of the Empire) in two straight games.
Storyline result: Former Crab champion Hida Kisada (Experienced) is returned to life through Oblivion's Gate. (Enemy of My Enemy)
Winner: Scott Rixson for Crane. Click here for more details.
Storyline result: Enlightenment is saved. The Crane starter deck in Lotus Edition is printed as in a special all foil printing.
Winner: Faber Van Kraanen for Ratling. Click here for more details.
Storyline result: Details forthcoming.
Interesting facts: This was the first year the World Championship was held outside GenCon.
Winner: Eugene Earnshaw for Scorpion. Click here for more details.
Storyline result: Shosuro Jimen becomes Emerald Champion.
Interesting facts: Eugene becomes the first player to win the World Championship twice. Top four player Pablo Rojo flew from Europe witha broken leg.
