by Ronaldo
Summoner Wars is greatly enjoyed in our house. My 2 older sons and I played 3 out of the 4 Summoner Wars tournaments at GenCon with respectable results that can be verified at the PHG website. We are not satisfied with just enjoying the game ourselves but we have infected other people as well.We have run 3 mini tournaments at home earlier this year. The 3 of us, my wife and 2 other friends. Invariably, great fun and excitement. We helped organize a tournament at the local gamestore - I'm Board in Madison back in March. It was very cool as we had 12 people play. I invited James Sits - the lead playtester for PHG but he couldn't come. At GenCon, he told me he would come and check the next tournament.
I recently found out that a couple of my friends whom I had introduced to Summoner Wars back over new years, had recently gotten into the game and were enjoying it with their families. We got together last week and decided to have a mini tournament at my house this weekend.
As we were putting things together, it became clear that things were looking good. We would not have less than 8 people. An idea came to mind but I did not want to be inconvenient and I went back forth a few times until yesterday I decided that it wouldn't hurt to try. I emailed and invited James to come. I know, he lives 2 hours away and I was not even giving him a fair notice.
The tournament was scheduled for 3 o'clock. He emailed me back today at noon but I did not see it until one. Emailed him back and he called me at two saying that he was thinking about coming even if he was not playing.
I couldn't believe it! Colby and James are highly regarded in our house. I only told my wife he was coming. No one else.
We had 11 players at the start of the tournament. It would be 3 rounds of Swiss with a final game if necessary. 9 different factions were represented. There were 5 adults and 6 kids ages 7-14.
James arrived perfectly shortly after the end of the first round. The kids (well, at least my kids who had met him at GenCon) were ecstatic. "Oh my Gosh, James is here!". Since we had an odd number of players, he graciously joined the tournament playing the cloaks, which no one else was playing, and did not break a sweat to beat me in the second round.
At the start of the 3rd round, only James and my sons Matheus and Thiago were undefeated. The brothers played each other. Phoenix Elves vs Sand Goblins and came down to, essentially, summoner vs summoner. The Sand Goblins had to hit both attack dice, which they did, and the Sand Storm die, which they didn't. Prince Ellien then finished the game with a Fire Blast. A fitting tense and exciting ending. James won his game as well. In the interest of time, we offered Matheus to be considered the champion but he would not have it. He wanted to play the final and James was up for the challenge.
Well played final and James got Scam and Vlox on Ellien. Prince Ellien needed to hit all 3 dice to win, otherwise, the Cloaks would need to hit 2 of their 4 dice to seal the deal.
Prince Ellien hit all 3 dice on Vlox for the win.
The tournament was great at so many levels. Any day that you can gather 12 people to play Summoner Wars is a great day. There were players of all ages and levels of experience and we all greatly enjoyed it. It would have been awesome anyway but there is no question that James' presence made it that much more special.
My friends were delighted to meet him and impressed with him coming all the way over here and his overall kindness. It illustrates what kind of people is part of Plaid Hat and the things they do for their games and their fans.
There is no question that the people that were here today will never forget the experience and will continue to love Summoner Wars. Maybe I am exaggerating. But, I know that my family will always think of Summoner Wars and Plaid Hat Games not just as fans but friends.
Matheus said it simply but best: "This was one of the best days of the year".