A Look Back on the 2014 World Championship Weekend

The 2014 World Championship Weekend concluded Sunday evening with the crowning of the 2014 Android: Netrunner World Champion and the end of a fantastic weekend. Many of our games set records for largest attendance, we hosted more international players than ever before, and Fantasy Flight Games enhanced the experience for those viewing at home with live commentating on our Twitch stream. Thanks to everyone who attended for making this our greatest World Championship Weekend yet!

After a weekend of hard-fought battles, new World Champions are ascending to claim the title, even as some reigning World Champions have secured their positions for another year. Congratulations to the champions of all our games:

• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Melee) – Dan Seefeldt
• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Joust) – Sam Braatz
• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game (Overall) – Alexander Hynes
• Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game – Jeremy Zwirn
• Star Wars™: The Card Game – Mick Cipra
• X-Wing™ – Paul Heaver
• Warhammer 40,000: Conquest – Jeremy Zwirn
• Warhammer: Diskwars – Francois Fressin
• Android: Netrunner The Card Game – Dan Dargenio

On Thursday, we held the A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Melee tournament. With an unprecedented number of players entering, we were forced to add a fourth round to the tournament! The tournament ran late into the night, with a fantastic final table. In the end, Dan Seefeldt led the maestros of House Martell to the top, claiming the title of Melee World Champion.

On Friday and Saturday, we held a massive Joust tournament. This tournament was truly an international affair. The top five players were from five different countries (United States of America, Spain, France, Germany, and Canada), showing a wide diversity of fans from around the world. The final match held additional excitement with both Sam Braatz and former World Champion Álvaro Rodriguez fielded House Lannister decks, playing a faction many did not expect to win the tournament. In the end, Sam Braatz was victorious, however, becoming the new Joust World Champion. Finally, Canadian Alexander Hynes won the Overall prize, beating out Spanish player and former World Champion Álvaro Rodriguez by just one point!

The Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game World Championships held a wealth of eldritch terror and desperate conspiracies for every player. The final match pitted two Minnesota locals against each other: David Bergstrom and reigning World Champion Jeremy Zwirn.

In the end, it was Jeremy Zwirn who claimed the title of World Champion for a second year in a row. Jeremy played a tri-faction deck, combining the prowess of the Miskatonic University, Yog-Sothoth, and the Silver Twilight Lodge.

The Star Wars™: The Card Game World Championship was the first Final of the weekend, while many other games held Swiss rounds. Mick Cipra caught everyone by surprise with his light side deck, running a Trench Run deck that once set up, could take down the Death Star and win the game in one turn. He was also piloting a dark side deck that combined the Sith and the Scum and Villainy of the galaxy.

After finishing off dark side and light side decks alike, Mick was crowned the 2014 Star Wars: The Card Game World Champion!

Saturday contained multiple Finals, including the X-Wing™ World Championship. After a flight of 128 players on each of the previous two days, the Top 32 players faced off for the title. The Top 4 saw the Australian National Champion face off against the UK National Champion on one table. Morgan Reid, the Australian Champion, went on to the final table, but it was Paul Heaver, defending World Champion, who took home the title for the second year in a row.

Paul was harnessing the power of Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon, alongside three Z-95 Headhunters.

This year’s World Championship Weekend saw the debut World Championship of our newest LCG®, Warhammer 40,000: Conquest. It was a huge event, with plenty of players eager to battle for the ultimate fate of the Traxis sector!

While numerous players fought for the right to be named the first Warhammer 40,000: Conquest World Champion, it was Jeremy Zwirn, commanding the Space Marines, who took home the prize. Jeremy now has a truly unprecedented five World Championships in four different games!

A dedicated contingent of players joined the 2014 Warhammer: Diskwars World Championship. When the dust had settled, it was Francois Fressin, the 2014 North American Champion, who was left on the field. Francois gave up his spot in the X-Wing Top 32 to play in the Warhammer: Diskwars main event and was rewarded with a World Championship!

Francois led an army of High Elves and Empire warriors to the championship.

We ended the 2014 World Championship Weekend on Sunday with a full day of streaming the Top 16 Finals of Android: Netrunner. Multiple stories played out over the course of tense and nail-biting matches, including a Weyland: Blue Sun deck just missing out on the final match, all nine of the NBN: Near Earth Hub decks failing to make the Top 3, and the Belgian National Champion taking eventual World Champion Dan Dargenio to a second game in a Final that’s sure to be remembered for years to come. Dan used Jinteki: Replicating Perfection as his Corp, and Andromeda as his Runner.

See You Next Year

Congratulations to all of the winners, and a big thank you to everyone who came to World Championship Weekend or followed along on our stream. You’ll be able to see our live-streamed games posted on YouTube soon. Thank you to everyone who made this event our best one yet. We hope to see you again next year!

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