| Redemption
has been slowly maturing over the years. It is now more popular
than ever and the game itself has developed into a very system that
rivals the playability of the best collectible card games on the market.
On September 22nd, over 60 people gathered in Kansas City for the
first ever Redemption National Tournament.
Impromptu Games were common
On the far left is Rob Anderson and on the
far right is Cory Lenteen who ran the event
I traveled with Joe Revesz who was going
to the tournament to display DragonRaid
materials. Between taking pictures and poking my nose around the
place I helped cover the booth with him. Joe has been a fan
of Redemption since its unveiling at the Origins Game Convention
Philidelphia in 1995. Since then he has been a very active
playtester, proofreader and rules lawyer for the game.
Joe Answering Questions about
DragonRaid
As people arrived, I
started noticing an interesting trend. About half the participants were middle
school or late elementary school aged kids. It was very
interesting watching a nine year old playing adults and doing rather
well. On of these "kids" even made it to the finals. It seems that Redemption has a wide range of appeal.
Don't let size fool you. These
were serious players.
Rob Anderson, creator of Redemption CCG, was
present and spent time playing the game with tournament goers.
Other representatives of Redemption and Cactus Games (past and
present) were there including, Kory Lentine who
organized the event. Doug Gray, who hosted the 1999 Redemption
National Tournament in Loudonville, OH was also present. Doug
has illustrated cards for both the Warriors expansion set and the
new 2nd Edition Starter Decks as a freelance artist. This last
July he joined Cactus Game Design as their full time art director.
Friday evening, the first day of the two
day tournament, centered around Closed Deck play. This type of game is my favorite because
the table ends up being a huge mess with all the card
wrappers spread around while everyone tries to organize their deck. It
has an atmosphere thick with a strange mixture of delight,
surprise, disappointment, quick thinking and hope. Then the
games begin and you have no idea who's going to win. Closed
Deck play offers the
ultimate level ground in this kind of game.
Players Sorting Cards for
Closed Deck Tourny
Competition heated up on Saturday, the second day
of the tournament, as
everyone brought out their "killer" decks. A number
of people had come out of state, which legitimized the fact that
this, while small in attendance, was a national tournament. Even as people lost in the
early rounds, impromptu games were held constantly through the day
and evening.
The winners received savings bonds and a
lucky few got a full set of Redemption cars in pristine, uncut
sheets straight from the printers. Pretty cool. If you
like Redemption and can afford a weekend vacation, consider going to
next year's Redemption National Tournament.
Timothy Maly showing off the
big prize.
Tournament Winners
Sealed (Closed) Deck (2 player): Nicholas Campbell
(Kansas City, Missouri)
Sealed Deck, Multi-player:
Aaron Torres (Emporia, Kansas)
Open Deck, Type 1, 2 player: Timothy Maly
(Omaha, Nebraska)
Open Deck, Type 1,
Multiplayer: Kevin Dulin (Troy, Kansas)
Open Deck, Type 2, 2 player: (Gil
Kimmons (Omaha, Nebraska)
Open Deck, Type 2, Multi-player:
Daniel Goodner (Kansas City, Missouri)
|
