A Tourney of the East is coming!
We are happy to announce that the 2nd A Game of Thrones: The Card Game national championship tournament of China will take place from Sep. 24 to Nov. 20. There will be two phases of this event. The qualifying match will take place in eight cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Harbin, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Wuxi and Zhengzhou. The final match will be hold in Shanghai from Nov.19 to 20 and there will be sixteen qualified players from each city competing for the A Game of Thrones joust championship of China 2011.
Since January of 2010, after the board game company Game Harbor released A Game of Thrones: The Card Game in Chinese, thousands of Chinese players have dived into the world of Westeros, enjoying every battle with their carefully built decks.
Though Chinese players only learned A Game of Thrones: The Card Game one year ago, many of them have the skills necessary to play at the global level. In the “Chosen Few” deck-building contest organized by FFG in April 2011, one deck submitted by a Chinese player, XiaoBai, won 2nd place. XiaoBai was taught the game by the 2010 Champion of China, Qiao Ke, and his nickname and Internet ID is Uncle Joker.
Below is a short interview with Uncle Joker before the tournament this year (Q=Interviewer from Game Harbor; J=Uncle Joker):
Q: What features of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game appeal to you most?
J: There are so may possibilities to build decks of different kinds and on-the-fly adjustment to strategies are very important in this game. These two features are what I like most in this game. Now I study the rules and teach the game to others.
Q: Which house do you like most?
J: House Martell.
Q: As a player in Shanghai, why did you join in the qualifying match in Hangzhou last year?
J: There are twice the number of players in Shanghai than Hangzhou, so competition in Shanghai is incredible. And a player could only qualify in the final match either in Shanghai or Hangzhou, so I decided to join the Hangzhou zone. But in Hangzhou, I anticipated players also from Shanghai and Anhui, so it was more challenging than the final match somehow. If you don’t believe me, you may try go to Hangzhou this year!
Q: For now which house do you think has the advantage in the Chinese environment. (Players can only use Chinese cards in this tournament. The current Chinese card pool includes: the Core Set, all Deluxe expansions, and also the Secrets of Old Town and the Kings Landing cycles.)
J: For the Chinese environment all the houses are about the same except for Greyjoy. Whoever wins will do so because of their deck-building and player skills. House Greyjoy is a little weak because there is no Winter support yet in the Chinese environment, thus players can not fully leverage the power of discard or economic blockade decks.
Q: As a player that was qualified for final match directly, do you have any suggestion for the player community?
J: My suggestion is more practice, more games and continue to develop your strategies. Keep a humble heart and work to continually improve as a player. And I hope I get to meet you at final match!
Q: Are you confident that you will win the championship this year?
J: It’s very fun to compete against players from all across the country and I will try my best. It’s not so important to win. I just want to make friends during this competition.
Q: What else do you enjoy about the world of A Game of Thrones besides playing the card game?
J: I like to read any A Game of Thrones news, card strategy articles, etc. I also analyze the features of each kind of deck, study the rules and continue to teach new players. I hope all of China’s senior players will help new players with patience and enthusiasm. This way we will see even more players in China and everyone will have more fun.
That’s the interview of Uncle Joker. Let’s see who can defeat Uncle Joker this year and we’ll see you in our final report of the China national championship in November!