# Gencon 1997 Nationals - Report

by Andrew Davidson
October 3, 1997

The last day of Gencon brought the highlight of the 1997 Shadowfist season - the US National tournament. The qualification requirement made for a lower number of participants than on the previous day - 12 players. To control these top players, the event was officiated by top umpire, Steve Fritz - the organiser of regular events at Neutral Ground and so used to controlling the most ornery of prima donnas. Talking of which, there was a rumour that Dennis Heffernan would be appearing for this event on the last day. Unfortunately, this was not to be but there were several others to carry the flag for the East Coast.

The participants and their decks were:

    Player            City            Faction Theme/Name
    Andrew Davidson   London, UK      A.FH... Tickertape
    Brian Carty       ?, Florida      .D.H... ?
    Danny Cruz        New York        A..H... You'll be sorry...
    Janifer Cheng     New York        .DFHLJM Melting Pot
    Joseph Livotte    New York        ..F.... Trinity
    Joshua Kronengold New York        .D..... Walk Softly
    Lissa Sabia       Los Angeles     A...... I'm Huge
    Matt Widmann      Los Angeles     .D..... Smack Back,Yak Attack
    Michael Nickoloff Los Angeles     ..F.L.. Dangerous Experiment
    Stefan Vincent    Los Angeles     ...H..M Displaced Chicks
    Tom Luongo        Gainesville, FL ...H.J. ?
    Yuit Sum Vong     London, UK      .DF.... Butch

Faction popularity
4 Dragon
4 Architects of the Flesh
4 Guiding Hand
3 Ascended
1 All factions (aka Peacock)
1 Eaters of Lotus
1 Four Monarchs
1 Jammers

Being the last day, time was short and Steve set a limit of 45 minutes for each game. This was rather tight and several games were timed out and decided by a tie-break. The rules used for these were those published by Daedalus (version 1.0) - the first tie-break was feng shui sites + feng shui sites burnt for victory. The tie-break system was also used to determine places in each game but, happily, these were not needed to establish the finalists.
The Architects had been very popular and successful on the previous day, besting the Dragons in the final. There seemed to be a reaction against them in consequence and they were shot on sight, e.g. when Stefan used the Displaced to toast my Architect resource. This is one reason that the previous day's undefeated winner, Joseph, did not win a game - perhaps he should have changed decks.

The results of the first three rounds were:

Round 1
Joshua Kronengold beat Andrew Davidson, Stefan Vincent, Brian Carty
Janifer Cheng beat Yuit Sum Vong, Lissa Sabia, Mike Nickoloff
Matt Widmann beat Danny Cruz, Tom Luongo, Joseph Livotte

Round 2
Stefan Vincent beat Lissa Sabia, Joseph Livotte, Andrew Davidson
Matt Widmann beat Janifer Cheng, Joshua Kronengold, Yuit Sum Vong
Mike Nickoloff beat Tom Luongo, Brian Carty, Danny Cruz

Round 3
Joshua Kronengold beat Tom Luongo, Yuit Sum Vong, Andrew Davidson
Lissa Sabia beat Stefan Vincent, Mike Nickoloff, Matt Widmann
Janifer Cheng beat Danny Cruz, Joseph Livotte, Brian Carty
The three double-winners then fought a final. A full listing of each of their decks accompanies this article. Unfortunately, I missed the start of the final game (licking my wounds and checking my notes) and so didn't see the key play which, as I understand it, was Joshua taking a Drug Lab from Matt while Janifer, to Matt's fury, did not interfere. When I started watching, the game was already decided - Joshua had about five sites and at least one big character - outmatching the other two players combined. His deck is fast and, having established a dominant position, the winning attack came soon. This very rapid victory was somewhat anti-climactic but, like they say, speed kills.
Final
Joshua Kronengold beat Janifer Cheng, Matt Widmann
Joshua's prize for winning this event was a 1st edition of Feng Shui signed by John Woo. The real prize, though, is earning the right to swagger as The Man for a year. Congratulations to Joshua and his home town, New York. I attach a jpeg photo of Joshua in his Artful Dodger hat, displaying his MVP - Ting Ting, of course.
Commiserations to the others, especially Matt Widmann. His record over the last two days was very impressive - five wins in eight games - and it must have been very galling to come away without a trophy. Thanks to Steve for running the event and to Daedalus for their sponsorship. And thanks to all those who took part - you were all great competitors and sports. Finally, a special mention for Stefan Vincent whose good-natured and witty banter kept myself and others entertained throughout.

Last modified: March 13, 1998.
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