Author Topic: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage  (Read 22698 times)

Offline danisthirty

  • (not thirSty!)
  • Owner
  • Chatelain Grand-Croix
  • *
  • *
  • Posts: 6940
  • Merit: 293
  • "First to 4 points wins?"
    • View Profile
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #15 on: November 24, 2016, 08:09:10 AM »
I played my game against JoeSesquipedalian yesterday evening...

Although I did record the game, I didn't take any screen shots so I'm hoping maybe Joe did? If not, I can probably extract some from the video but they won't be very good quality. In any case, pictures aside, the final result was a well-deserved win to Joe who won by 255 against 249. Naturally I was disappointed to have lost but it was certainly a fun game to have played and I really enjoyed the full mix of expansions.

Things got off to a bit of a slow start for both of us. I drew some good tiles and started work on a small city with my builder while Joe made the best of a string of slightly awkward city tiles while I tried to trap him at every opportunity. I finished my city with little effort thanks to some favourable tiles but Joe had scored a few other small cities and short roads so I didn't ever build much of a lead.

As the game progressed there was no single farm worth investing a barn in and neither of us had even placed a farmer. So I took the initiative and dropped a meeple on the north field, which was soon joined by my pig too. Perhaps I gave my intention away too soon, or perhaps Joe was considering doing the same thing anyway, but once the farm had emerged it was a simple case of who would be able to get their barn down first. Joe was first to draw a suitable tile (a humble ffrr) and as his barn went down I knew I was going to have an uphill struggle to keep myself in the game. I then had to invest a lot of effort in trying to prevent him from growing his barn farm whilst looking for alternative places to drop my own. This worked out quite well in the end but it did cost me a lot of turns and distracted me from going for bigger points elsewhere, which resulted in Joe building a respectable lead over me which he hung onto for a good while after this.

I started to play a much riskier game after this but Joe didn't want to let me get away with anything and was constantly on hand to make my life as difficult as possible by trapping as many of my vulnerable meeples as possible (as I was doing to him wherever possible). He played a great move which trapped both a monk and a knight of mine, but since my city could still be worth a good few points I decided to place my builder in it so as to grow the uncompleteable city and take as many bonus turns as possible in the process. This didn't work out as well as I'd hoped because I was too greedy for the bonus turns, and Joe struck another blow when he got his mayor into the city which made my trapped knight worthless and retired my builder. I later snuck the witch into the city meaning that it was only worth 7 points to him, but it was another loss for me even though he lost his mayor in the process.

I got a bit muddled with the "move the wood" phase of a particular turn at around this time and ended up placing my phantom on a city segment rather than moving my wagon to it. This was annoying as I wouldn't normally have done it and had to sacrifice my abbey to get it back as Joe made the most of my slip up by ensuring that it was otherwise trapped. It also meant that I missed out on a few points here and there which could have been claimed with the phantom, but I've nobody but myself to blame for those…

A big moment came with around 20 tiles left to place when Joe was faced with the tricky decision of whether he should close his builder city which I'd stolen with my mayor. It was a good handful of points for me, plus my mayor, and some equally valuable trade tokens plus a meeple and his builder for Joe. He closed it and I was catapulted into the lead, but Joe soon caught up. Then I finally drew the ffff cloister I'd been waiting for and placed my barn on a farm I'd already claimed with 4 or 5 cities. I went into the lead again, but Joe soon caught up!

As the game drew to a close there was little between us in terms of score and neither of us was entirely sure who'd won (although I thought it probably deserved to be Joe and was pretty sure it would be). The difference between our barn farms was negated by my trapped monk. Joe had the biggish city with my builder but the witch hadn't been removed from it so this was worth just 7 points. I'd claimed an 18-point farm mid-way through the game and had another 6-point farm (my emergency barn farm in case I didn't draw the cloister I needed), but Joe had a couple of 6-point farms and also a 9-point farm so we were roughly even here too. My major weakness though was trade tokens; although I had most barrels, Joe had won most of the silk and the wheat which would swing the final scores a further 10 points in his favour.

My final tile was a cfcf (with pennant). I could have used it to claim a number of 3-point farms but couldn't find anything more valuable than 4 points by joining it to an unclaimed cccr (also with pennant). So that was my final move. Joe's last tile was a straight road (frfr) which he used to claim a tidy 6-point farm plus 2 points for the road with his phantom. Then it was confirmed what I'd suspected would be the case: a win for Joe (although with closer final scores than I'd been expecting).

Many congratulations to Joe on his victory. I enjoyed the game very much regardless of the fact that I lost it, and I'm sure he can do very well at the next stage of the competition!

Offline JoeSesquipedalian

  • Duke
  • *
  • Posts: 153
  • Merit: 10
  • ǝuuossɐɔɹɐɔ
    • View Profile
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #16 on: November 24, 2016, 09:17:15 AM »
Thanks for the excellent write-up Dan!!   It was an incredibly exciting game for me, and a nail-biter until the last tile.   Dan, you played an excellent game!!!  It just came down to who got the right tiles at the right time.   Lots of trapping on both sides.  I was able to use the crop circle to my advantage although I am pretty unfamiliar with them.

Thank you so much Dan for a great game!!!!

Here are the final screenshots.

Who got a smudge on the tile?

Offline MrNumbers

  • Duke Chevalier
  • *
  • Posts: 1830
  • Merit: 91
    • View Profile
    • Carcassonne Latvia
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #17 on: November 24, 2016, 12:42:30 PM »
Summary after two games.

Congratulations to JoeSesquipedalian and khalidqasrawi (two nicknames, which I always copy-paste :) ) for advancing to semifinals!
"I never lose. Either I win or I learn." (Nelson Mandela)

Offline Jéré

  • Chatelain
  • ******
  • Posts: 1187
  • Merit: 62
    • View Profile
2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #18 on: November 24, 2016, 01:30:11 PM »
My game with Grabushka:

I won 321 - 280.





I had a good start, trapping 2 important figures, Grabushka's mayor and phantom, and completing a 22-point city. Then she made good use of the crop circles to get all her meeples back!

I stayed in the lead the entire game but there was a moment where I got really scared. I was building that big city in the north east (view from my side of the table) and she was trying really hard to sneak in and at some point I had 2 meeples, she had one plus another one knocking at the door. Next, she draws the crop circles for knights, she chooses to untrap her mayor (as mentioned earlier) AND I was forced to removed one... You guess right, my 2 meeples were the only ones in play so suddendly, we were tied for the city and she had really good chances to steal it!
My only chance, I thought, was to build around the incomplete part and create a hole where I'd put my abbey and split the city to isolate her second meeple. I managed but it was a close call! Here's a zoom on the city in question:



The other thing is that she didn't succeed with placing her barn so that possibly made the difference in the end. Also you can see that our table wasn't big enough for the game... in the south-west corner.

Trading goods: 20-10 in my favor.

Grabushka got 3 pts for the Wind Roses.
« Last Edit: November 24, 2016, 02:02:41 PM by Jéré »

Offline MrNumbers

  • Duke Chevalier
  • *
  • Posts: 1830
  • Merit: 91
    • View Profile
    • Carcassonne Latvia
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #19 on: November 24, 2016, 02:00:58 PM »
Congratulations also to Jéré for reaching semifinal! In 3 of 4 games group winners won their games. Let's see what will be with the last game.

Offline Leven

  • Viscount
  • ****
  • Posts: 676
  • Merit: 49
    • View Profile
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #20 on: November 24, 2016, 03:10:07 PM »
The last quarter final between me and What If will presumably be held at the weekend. (Maybe on Saturday evening.)

Congrats to the three players who have already reached semi-finals.  :(y)

Offline Leven

  • Viscount
  • ****
  • Posts: 676
  • Merit: 49
    • View Profile
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #21 on: November 26, 2016, 05:31:33 PM »
Here is the result of the last quarter-final:

:black1-meeple: WhatIf vs :violet-meeple: Leven 403:408

I recorded the game and uploaded the video to .

As a summary I think I could just copy-paste khalidqasrawi's QF-report here just by changing names in the text. The course of this game was so similar to that one.
The game started horrible for me and it's a mild word for it. WhatIf played brilliantly and he had a little luck as well, while I just simply couldn't build a decent city of my own as he was always there to steal it with not one but two followers (or his mayor). He already collected some of each trade goods and even forced me to play my abbey tile quite early to avoid losing another large city. Subsequently he could gain further trade goods by placing his abbey tile. He was also able to play his barn early on, and there were standing (laying) his other meeples on nearby farms, too. Luckily with a crop circle I could remove one of them.

But I felt so lost in the early phase of the game, maybe it's because recently I focused on playing only the base game as a preparation for the Hungarian Carcassonne Championships which was held today, so it was a little unfamiliar feeling to play with so many expansions again.

Then I saw this trick from WhatIf, I couldn't believe my eyes that the rules allow this placement of the pig. But apparently it was a common knowledge, both WhatIf and the spectator danisthirty confirmed that it was legal.

Having 40 tiles left WhatIf's advantage was still very high though until then I was able to collect some trade goods as well (especially by finishing that "snake" city in SE. And I was desperately searching for an opportunity to place my barn. I knew that if I still want something in this game it would be important to place my barn on a farm where I have a farmer (and possibly a pig) and there are at least 3 or 4 completed cities. Therefore when I had my first chance to place the barn I rather deployed a farmer. But with his next tile WhatIf prevented me from deploying my barn here, too, so I had to wait more. Meanwhile my farm started to grow, after joining another farm it already had 9 cities (which was more than the farm of WhatIf's barn had). So when I finally deployed my barn here surprisingly the scores were suddenly very close. So close that in the end by some fortunate usage of the "pig trick" I could even turn the game in my favor. When I used the trick for the last time (with my last but one tile) the two large farms (with the two barns) were already joined together so I could gain 32(!) points with that.

It was an unbelievable game, thanks for that, WhatIf. You played well and you would have deserved to reach the semi-final, too.
« Last Edit: November 26, 2016, 05:35:46 PM by Leven »

Offline MrNumbers

  • Duke Chevalier
  • *
  • Posts: 1830
  • Merit: 91
    • View Profile
    • Carcassonne Latvia
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #22 on: November 27, 2016, 12:14:25 AM »
Congratulations to Leven - the only one player, who was able to advance to semifinal from 2nd place in the group.
Here are final standings of QF and starting fixtures for SF.
Now you can play your semifinal games, using following expansions:
Inns and Cathedrals + The Tower + The Festival + The Flier + The Goldmines + The German Monasteries (cloisters from the base game have to be removed).
« Last Edit: November 27, 2016, 12:24:42 AM by MrNumbers »

Offline Jéré

  • Chatelain
  • ******
  • Posts: 1187
  • Merit: 62
    • View Profile
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #23 on: November 27, 2016, 07:03:59 AM »
Wow, we've seen some crazy games in this QF !

Well done everybody. Looking forward to playing in the SF!

What is Joe's timezone? I'm in Sweden now, same timezone as the Netherlands.

I was testing the expansions in JCZ and I have a question regarding The Festival:

CAR 7.4 says:
"The player must then choose either:
  • deploy one of one’s own figures to the tile in the usual way; or
  • return one of one’s own figures from the entire playing area to his or her supply."

So if I don't return one of my guys to my supply I must deploy one on the tile I just placed, right? But JCZ lets me skip this very easily...

Is the implementation of The Festival in JCZ correct? (sorry for being a trouble maker ^-^)

Offline Jéré

  • Chatelain
  • ******
  • Posts: 1187
  • Merit: 62
    • View Profile
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #24 on: November 27, 2016, 07:22:38 AM »
Face-to-Face Elo comparison before the SF:


Leven (1391) vs. khalidqasrawi (1375)
Elo prediction: Leven has 52% chance of winning the match


Jéré (1362) vs. JoeSesquipedalian (1286)
Elo prediction: Jéré has 61% chance of winning the match

Offline Halfling

  • Chatelain
  • ******
  • Posts: 1293
  • Merit: 49
  • Welcome tournament 2015 winner.
    • View Profile
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #25 on: November 27, 2016, 08:17:17 AM »
Hi Jere,

Instead of must it should be can deploy a follower.

Regards Halfling
The Geek shall inherit the earth if we get a good die role

Offline kettlefish

  • Global Moderator
  • Chatelain Officier
  • *
  • Posts: 4682
  • Merit: 127
    • View Profile
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #26 on: November 27, 2016, 09:56:53 AM »
I wish you good luck in the Semi Finals.

Offline JoeSesquipedalian

  • Duke
  • *
  • Posts: 153
  • Merit: 10
  • ǝuuossɐɔɹɐɔ
    • View Profile
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #27 on: November 27, 2016, 11:45:16 AM »


What is Joe's timezone? I'm in Sweden now, same timezone as the Netherlands.



I'm in Eastern Standard Time in US right now, UCT -5.

Offline Jéré

  • Chatelain
  • ******
  • Posts: 1187
  • Merit: 62
    • View Profile
Re: 2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #28 on: November 28, 2016, 04:55:58 AM »
Hi Jere,

Instead of must it should be can deploy a follower.

Regards Halfling

Ok thanks. I guess the "must" and "the usual way" cancel each other.

Thought this expansion had a interesting twist where you could end up being forced to place (almost waste) a meeple where it wouldn't be so avantageous for you and then have to wait for the next festival tile to get it back... I think the way it is now is too powerful (vs. trapping strategy).

Offline Jéré

  • Chatelain
  • ******
  • Posts: 1187
  • Merit: 62
    • View Profile
2016 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage
« Reply #29 on: December 02, 2016, 01:02:46 AM »
I played a hell of a game last night against Joe. I felt I was in trouble the entire game and Joe played so well. The final score (211-183 in my favor) does not give you the whole portrait of the match... with 3 tiles to play, if I remember well, score was 98-97 for Joe. Although Joe is a newcomer and started in the Welcome Tournament this year, in my opinion he was a good candidate to repeat Merlin's achievement and win this World Cup. He was constantly making good decisions, he was certainly not there to be a tourist! :)

Early in the game, Joe occupied a german monastery which I tried to capture the whole game but failed so at the end it was a very good investment for him (30 pts, the highest amount of points for a single feature in this game, including fields). I was more agressive than him to capture meeples with towers but at some point I had only one tower piece left and Joe had still 6 or 7... I was really worried about that because I had made that mistake before in the tower league to spend all my tower pieces too early in the game... I felt that most of the game it was difficult to get some results, not complaining about being unlucky, but from the start of the game I had the feeling that "Oh shit, nothing really works" but that's the way it is with the tower, you make plans only to see everything colapse right before your eyes. That feeling is generally shared by both players anyway, but perhaps it was emphasised when I saw Joe collecting more gold and getting the 2 cathedrals. Nobody scored cathedral cities during the game and I managed to escape from one (or both, can't recall) that we couldn't complete (although I wasn't so sure about that!) using the festival. Speaking of I&C, our big meeples didn't play a big role: Joe tried to steal a field on the right side but I blocked him so we both scored 12 pts for separate fields. I stole a road with inn towards the end with mine, which was a risky move because my big meeple was the last meeple in my supply.

Towards the end, I got good tiles. I managed to place a guy on a german monastery with the flier for 16 pts! It was of course a bit lucky but the tile (ffff) wasn't so useful elsewhere and I had nothing to lose so I did it! Also was very pleased to get the tile to claim an unoccupied road with inn for an additional 10 pts. All this with the last tiles of the game and while I had meeple shortage! Meanwhile, Joe had quite a few followers left and was trying to claim as many unoccupied (small) fields as possible. He got a good tower tile to remove my big meeple from the (not-so-big-but-interesting-enough) main field and soon after I had my revenge and also removed his farmer from there using my very last tower piece that I had kept for a long time, leaving only one of mine to win the field (21 pts). That was possibly the killer move, as Joe did not recover from that. All in all, it has been a VERY TENSE and exhausting game (I think about 2 hours and a half!!). Thanks Joe for the game. You played extremely well and would have deserved a better fate... and yes, I had trouble to sleep after the game. ;)



Share via delicious Share via digg Share via facebook Share via furl Share via linkedin Share via myspace Share via reddit Share via stumble Share via technorati Share via twitter

  Subject / Started by Replies / Views Last post
xx
2015 World Cup of Carcassonne Central - Knock-Out Stage

Started by danisthirty

160 Replies
61215 Views
Last post February 08, 2017, 02:46:16 PM
by danisthirty
clip
2017 World Cup - Knock-Out Stage

Started by MrNumbers

121 Replies
39252 Views
Last post May 23, 2018, 02:54:30 AM
by Halfling
xx
World Cup - Knock-out Stage!

Started by danisthirty

117 Replies
39185 Views
Last post March 04, 2015, 07:01:52 AM
by Jéré
xx
2016 World Cup - Group B

Started by danisthirty

76 Replies
24322 Views
Last post November 13, 2016, 02:33:40 AM
by MrNumbers
xx
2016 World Cup - Group C

Started by danisthirty

46 Replies
13905 Views
Last post November 13, 2016, 10:13:02 PM
by Chuck