Meta Check – Origins

Meta Check – Origins

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The Ohio Kotei, at the Origins event, is the first US Kotei under the restricted list. With only 43 players it is disappointingly small, but there are a few well know players at the event.

Day 1

A total of 43 players, of which almost a third are playing Dragon. That’s 3 Lion and 2 Unicorn underneath the icons. No Lion or Unicorn made it into the Magistrate stage, so they get no Hatamoto and no Challengers.

At the end of the swiss, there were 2 who made the cut and 5 challengers for a total of 7 players going into day 2. So Aneil is going to get a bye in the top 8 going straight into the top 4.

Top players

  • 1. Aneil Seetharam – Dragon Hatamoto
  • 2. Kyle George – Scorpion Hatamoto
  • 3. Max Williams – Crab Hatamoto
  • 5. Jasper Mangus – Dragon
  • 6. Mathew Frye – Scorpion
  • 8. Travis McDaniel – Phoenix Hatamoto
  • 10. Lucas Wu-Fienberg – Crane Hatamoto
Day 2

Day 2 gave Aneil a bye into the top 4 with the remaining players playing off.

At the end of the day, it was Aneil playing Dragon versus Travis Phoenix with Aneil taking the victory. Notably, this is the first Kotei not won by a Crab or Scorpion deck.

Position Name Faction
Winner Aneil Seetharam Dragon
Top 2 Travis McDaniel Phoenix
Top 4 Kyle George Scorpion
Top 4 Mathew Frye Scorpion
Top 8 Max Williams Crab
Top 8 Jasper Mangus Dragon
Top 8 Lucas Wu-Fienberg Crane
The final game was recorded by a hero on his phone and can be seen here. It is a shockingly short video.

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11 Replies to “Meta Check – Origins”

  1. Titles seems easier to win in US Kotei than in Europe. xD
    Happily all the kotei aren’t in USA because I would get the feeling L5R is a dying game.
    Congratulation to Aneil for winning this kotei and the others.

    Reply

  2. I would disagree the game is dying and this is more indicative of having huge barriers to entry. One namely been the cost to attend such events that are already at other conventions.
    Aneil has not won yet but went undefeated in swiss will be nice if a Dragon gains a spot on the kotei win ladder.

    Reply

  3. While the lower turnout at US Koteis compered to European Koteis is undeniable, the low rate at Origins can be attributed to a number of factors:

    1) The Kotei was Thursday-Friday rather than Saturday-Sunday, meaning people need to take even more time off work to travel and compete.

    2) This Kotei was announced rather late in the season. As a result it took even more work to take time off.

    3) This Kotei is rather close to Gen Con, both on the calendar and geographically. People who would be inclined to go to a Midwest convention are more likely to go to Gen Con.

    All in all, the low attendance at Origins is more an indication of a bad planning than a bad game state. Certainly I’m disappointed in it, but I’m not particularly worried.

    Reply

  4. The smaller Kotei’s also bring out the disparity in the tournament ranking system. It’s weird that the Top 8 are not actually the Top 8 of the tournament, but rather 1,2,3,5,6,8,10. In larger games the cut off works ok, but it does not scale very well at all. I hope FFG changes their tournament rules after this season..

    Reply

  5. I don’t find these results significant: the sample size was too small to make an impact (or blanket statement) upon the continued dominance of Scorpion and Crab. I can point to the Unicorn deck that won in a local competitive scene (total of 17 players, iirc) and draw similar conclusions. (as to Unicorn making a “notable” showing, but I won’t )
    I’m not trying to take ANYTHING from the winner of this tournament, but this win is not and does not reflect the powerhouse of the 2 decks I mentioned above.

    Reply

  6. comments that the results of this kotei are any less valid than other koties are pretty much insane. When i won pax south i think i played a total of one more game than the winner here, but maybe there wasnt much in the way of criticism then since that win was with scorp and featured a whopping 16 more players. Hopefully this win will help spur a more driven appreciation for correct building and piloting of dragon decks.

    Reply

  7. Some quick points:

    Housekeeping:

    • This isn’t a social media site. Comments are great as they give our team some feedback but don’t expect detailed discussion on a topic.
    • If I don’t like something I’ll delete it. So please play nice.

    Personal opinions:

    • If you watch the finals it will be pretty clear Aneil’s play skill is undisputed. I fully expect to see him on the top tables at Worlds.
    • A winner of a tournament of 4 people is less impressive than a winner of a tournament of 1000 people. So I’m okay with the idea that a small tournament is less ‘valid’ than another.
    • The current Kotei setup requires 7 rounds. If you look at the number of games Aneil played versus the number of games Pablo (winner of Madrid) played, their day 1 was the exact same. So, individual achievement is similar. This is why no one should be diminishing Aneil’s victory.
    • As an aside, a player in a massive tournament can have a lucky set of matchups and get all the right opponents to have a very easy tournament.
    • The ‘skill’ within a tournament is unknown. A small tournament could be in a much harder field than a large one. If player skill distribution was even, then a larger tournament would see better (and worse) players. In reality, good players tend to travel, so a small tournament is likely to have a higher average skill. That said, it is by nature an unknown.

    On Dragon

    • The Dragon communities respect for Aneil has been a constant for months now.
    • Aneil’s deck has been openly shared and regularly played by a large number of Dragon players.
    • For this win to be replicated, I firmly believe Dragon players are going to need to play the 5 games a day Aneil seems to get in and possibly have some sort of surgical graft to be able to perform at his level.
    • God help us all if he ever decides to ignore clan loyalty and play whatever he wants.
    Reply

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