Hall of Fame - Spin off thread

[Red Dragon Thorn]

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Truth.

Also, didn't RNRS start in 2002? Bartram has national titles in 2000 and 2001, He retired in 04. So he really only had two years to accumulate points. Unless the Resident Historian (Tim) can correct me on that

[SirNobody]

Hey,

I was no better of a Type 2 player than Type 1.  I had WAY more experience in Type 1.  I'd never really played much Type 2 - never in a tournament until the nats where I won my first title.  The Arriagas almost always beat me in Type 1.  So did Andy Siew.  So did a couple others from further back.  When I had success at the national tournament, I was surprised.  I thought I would have faced players better than those back home.  I did not.

Perhaps, you weren't as good in Type 1 as you were in Type 2 ;-)  If you were regularly losing to those players in Type 1 and you were winning nationals in Type 2...if the theory doesn't fit the facts...  I wish you had played Type 1 at nationals in 2002.  The field that year was very impressive, if you had won or even placed in that field it would give significantly more merit to your compliments of the California Type 1 players.  Of course, I wish we could replay our Type 2 match at nationals that year too

One thing I think should be awarded in the Hall of Fame are players who are at the top of their game for over 4 years.  That is something that has not really happened much in CA.  I can't help but wonder if that would have been different if those players had gained notoriety on the national scene.  Becoming respected in this great community is an encouragement to stick with the game.

I wholeheartedly agree with this.  Prof U asked me who I would have included in a list of candidates before he started the thread, one of the first names I listed was Roy Cannaday.  Technically Roy won a national title at some point (in Sealed - 2 Player I believe) but he deserved mention in my mind because of his Type 1 success outside of nationals.  He won Type 1 - 2 Player in his region 4 years in a row, and he has 10 Regional titles overall.  There are other players that haven't won nationals that are "on my radar" so to speak as far as being potential hall of fame players: Ben Shadrick, Joshua Pearson, and Ben Arp come to mind.  Each of them has a nice list of accomplishments in their own region.  California doesn't have anyone like that.  If there was a player from California that had 5+ Regional titles and was top 20 in lifetime RNRS they would likely also be on my radar (and yes I realize that Kurt meets those conditions).

Perhaps you could create a "California Hall of Fame" Bryon.  You could do little bios on the top players from California over the years.  Give the rest of us some insight into the corner of the country we don't know about, and create some more recognition for California players.  I would definitely enjoy reading that sort of thread.

Tschow,

Tim "Sir Nobody" Maly

[SirNobody]

Hey,

Also, didn't RNRS start in 2002? Bartram has national titles in 2000 and 2001, He retired in 04. So he really only had two years to accumulate points. Unless the Resident Historian (Tim) can correct me on that

Ahem, I won nationals in 2000, thank you   RNRS started in 2001.  Keith won nationals in 1999, 2001, and 2002.  I know he did not get any RNRS points after that, but I don't know when exactly he retired.  I know he didn't attend any national tournaments after 2002.

Tschow,

Tim "Sir Nobody" Maly

[Bryon]

That is a great idea.  I'd similarly like to see some from Oregon.  These would be especially great if they included pictures.  Nats has always been great since I can put a face and personality with the names on the boards.

Ever since winning that game against you, Tim, I have hung up my competetive hat.  Chris and I had a long conversation and we both admitted that the stress just isn't good for us.  I am very competetive, and used to compete in Track and Cross Country, and would get VERY nervous before races.  But at least the races would give me a physical outlet for my stress. I'd feel great after the race was over and have a 24-hour "high."  With tournaments, though, I'd still have the jitters hours after the event.  We decided to put our energies into helping Rob and making the game bigger and/or better in the ways we could (he has continued to play tournaments off and on).

I love playing with my theme decks, making up cards that will make them more playable and suggesting them to Rob.  I have a dozen Type 1 decks, most built around themes.  I have my Genesis-Rome deck, Luke-Greek deck, Purple/Teal Philistine deck, Prophets/Babylonians deck, Judges/Sadducees deck, Angels/Magicians, Daniel heroes/evil Israelites, Red/Silver Kings of Judah, Egyptians, Assyrians, Pharisees, etc., and the defenses often swap between decks as I try different things with them.  I also have an exact copy of Gabe's nats deck from 2008 that I use to test against (hence the plethora of hurt for evil splash of late).

Unfortunately, Kurt has an appreciation for the "underdeveloped" themes like the disciples.  He took a disciples/Crimson deck to nationals this year.  Seriously, his deck had nothing but discples like Peter, Andrew, Thomas, Bartholomew, James and John, and a couple N.T. females for access to the female soul.  His defense was Judas (naturally) and Red Dragon, Ananias, Sapphira, and a Zimri, I think.  I told him he wasn't going to win with it, but he already knew that.  He just wanted to see how well he could do with it (research, I guess).  He's been asking for years for better disciples.  Someday. 

[lightningninja]

Hey Bryon, if that's not a secret could you send me that decklist? Ask Kurt if he'd let me use that. I'm intrigued... I'd like that theme to become competitive... I mean the significance of Disciples in the Bible warrants some competitive cards.

Back on topic, that'd be an awesome idea. If each region could do that, it'd be really cool.

[Bryon]

The more I think about it, the more I think each region should have its own "Hall of Fame."  We could skip the national Hall of Fame, except for retired contributors such as Doug Gray and Kory Lentine. 

Each region could have a section for retired players (with details of their exploits in the region), a section for winners of recent regional events (and mention if they also went on to place at nationals), and links and info about the various hosts in the region, along with their PM contact info so new players can find a tournament host close to home.  Maybe the info can be posted here on this board.

This solves the bias issue, since each region would be represented equally, regardless of the number of national events that have been hosted nearby.  It also gets more people into the list, since each region would have a couple players to start with, and that could grow each year based on voting within the region.  The only voting would be for retired players.  Recent players would be listed only for winning recent Regional events, which would change from year to year.

Any suggestions or improvements?

[Warrior_Monk]

I love playing with my theme decks, making up cards that will make them more playable and suggesting them to Rob.  I have a dozen Type 1 decks, most built around themes.  I have my Genesis-Rome deck, Luke-Greek deck, Purple/Teal Philistine deck, Prophets/Babylonians deck, Judges/Sadducees deck, Angels/Magicians, Daniel heroes/evil Israelites, Red/Silver Kings of Judah, Egyptians, Assyrians, Pharisees, etc., and the defenses often swap between decks as I try different things with them.  I also have an exact copy of Gabe's nats deck from 2008 that I use to test against (hence the plethora of hurt for evil splash of late).

Unfortunately, Kurt has an appreciation for the "underdeveloped" themes like the disciples.  He took a disciples/Crimson deck to nationals this year.  Seriously, his deck had nothing but discples like Peter, Andrew, Thomas, Bartholomew, James and John, and a couple N.T. females for access to the female soul.  His defense was Judas (naturally) and Red Dragon, Ananias, Sapphira, and a Zimri, I think.  I told him he wasn't going to win with it, but he already knew that.  He just wanted to see how well he could do with it (research, I guess).  He's been asking for years for better disciples.  Someday.  

ahh, so it's your fault that all the themes have arisen. underdeveloped ftw. look at the deacon deck, it was actually pretty good. actually, just go an all out no themes.
that fact that you didn't combine Egyptians with anything is just sick. Egyptians are one of the best evil colors, and I would venture to say best if it wasn't for ignore problems.

[Bryon]

I used to combine Egyptians with Angels, but I swapped out the Egyptians for Magicians.  I'm thinking of combining Egyptians with Red Warriors now, but I am not sure. 

OT Red goes so well with Gray Syrians, but Syrians are rather weaksauce.  Still, they'd be... unexpected. 

Maybe I should pair the Egyptians back with the Silver (deck discard is fun!), and mix the Magicians with Musicians, for alliteration action.

[Red Dragon Thorn]

You asked, I answered:

The top ten players from each region by RNRS points.
I'll let someone else handle the non-RNRS aspect

North Central:
Chris Bany
Tim Maly
Justin Alstad
Gabe Isbell
Adam Erickson
Nathan Voigt
Andrew Wester
John Nesfeder
Joshua Hey
Eric Kimmons

NorthWest Region:

Ben Arp
Josh Randolph
T.J. Stamp
Jonathan Steckmann
Scott Stamp
Jake Barone
Daniel Steckmann
Kris Graves
Stephen Fitzmaurice
Alex Mitchell

SouthWest Region:

Kurt Hake
Joseph Pfeister
Andy Siew
Jesse Pfeister
Scott Kramer
Eric Wolfe
Mike Wolfe
Brandon Abbott
Christian De Los Rios
Ben Hogue

South Central Region:

Ben Shadrick
Michael Garland
Marcus Parker
Chad Soderstrom
Aaron Burt
Matt Pinckard
Jonathan Campbell
Nathan Strong
Jordan Drott
Kyle Cox

Midwest Region:

Michael Welch
Jonathan Greeson
Matt Archibald
Wil Kludy
George Lay
Ron Sias
Brian Reid
Keith Lemke
Jonathan Pequinot
Jacob Stroh

NorthEast Region:

John Michaliszyn
Sam Nurge
Nick Archick
Mike Mendicino
Justin Sangillo
Matt Stupienski
Christian Fong
Dan Berkenpas
David Dandeneau
Ross Lang

SouthEast Region:

Eric Largent
Steve Kamke
Tyler Stevens
Chris McCravy
Drew Pegram
Jonathan Slager
Roger Arias
Daniel Whitten
Clifford Crysel
Burton Reed

East Central Region:

Roy Cannaday
Mark Underwood
Justin Cannaday
Darcy Abbott
Kirk Dennison
Chris Cannaday
Greg Mullins
James Taylor
Kyle Hostutler
David Purvis

[Bryon]

You. are. awesome.

That was super fast!  Way to go!  It won't be too hard for players from those regions to figure out who is no longer active and perhaps vote from there.

[Master KChief]

is north central and midwest switched around? isnt kansas in the midwest region? or am i really in north central?

[Red Dragon Thorn]

KS is in the North Central region. You can find the regional breakdown list here:

http://www.cactusgamedesign.com/red_tournament_map.php

I'm working on some more stats for you guys to go over.

[Master KChief]

wierd...i always thought i was in the midwest. maybe because the rest of the world does.

[Red Dragon Thorn]

Okay, so HoFers and how they measure up to their region

Keith is 21st in Midwest
Josh is listed above at 9th in North Central
Tim is also above at 2nd in North Central
Justin is 3rd in NC.
Gabe is 4th in NC
Eric (Gil) is 10th in NC
Sam is 2nd in North East Region.
Ron is 6th in Midwest

[Mr.Hiatus]

SouthWest Region:

Eric Largent
Steve Kamke
Tyler Stevens
Chris McCravy
Drew Pegram
Jonathan Slager
Roger Arias
Daniel Whitten
Clifford Crysel
Burton Reed

We're southeast. Steve Kamke is East Central I think. Also of our list only Drew Pegram, Roger Arias (who was a great player), and Burt Reed no longer play.

[Red Dragon Thorn]

Sorry, I'm tired - Fixed.

Steve is listed in the RNRS List as a member of South Carolina. South Carolina is in the South East region, while North Carolina is in East Central.

[Gabe]

Unfortunately, Kurt has an appreciation for the "underdeveloped" themes like the disciples.  He took a disciples/Crimson deck to nationals this year.  Seriously, his deck had nothing but discples like Peter, Andrew, Thomas, Bartholomew, James and John, and a couple N.T. females for access to the female soul.  His defense was Judas (naturally) and Red Dragon, Ananias, Sapphira, and a Zimri, I think.  I told him he wasn't going to win with it, but he already knew that.  He just wanted to see how well he could do with it (research, I guess).  He's been asking for years for better disciples.  Someday.  

Talk about a memorable moment!  Round 6 I'm paired up against Kurt who's still undefeated.  That's right, he took a Disciples deck to 5-0 at Nationals!  Did anyone here even think that's possible?

When Kurt played Andrew, Thaddeus & Peter, then used Freedom! during a battle, I had no idea what his game plan could possibly be.  That's a compliment because I almost always have a pretty good idea what my opponent is up to.  All I knew is that he was in the top seat and couldn't possibly be using a Disciples deck because they aren't good enough to go 5-0 at Nationals.

Sadly, after using Zimri to block on his first turn, he didn't draw another evil character (Sapphira was put on the bottom of his deck by my revealer).  I walked in for 5 free souls.  It wasn't really much of a game at all.  I was very disappointed that it turned out to be "one of those games" because Kurt is obviously an amazing player to take that deck was far as he did.  He was also a great sport and walked away from that game with a smile on his face, despite getting a terrible draw.

[Red]

 1:byron can you send me that decklist?

[Warrior_Monk]

1 guys quit all this argueing your makeing me SICK with all of the argueing if comes back up again oh it won't be pretty 2:byron can you send me that decklist?

um... we did quit arguing.

whoaa, I'm in the top ten for NC in RNRS? that's hilarious, because I haven't won yet.

[Prof Underwood]

The more I think about it, the more I think each region should have its own "Hall of Fame."

I think having regional HoFs is a great idea.  I do plan on continuing with an overall HoF as well though.  My hope is that it will continue to be a chance for people to hear about players that deserve recognition.  If there is someone who makes it into their regional HoF, I could see people then campaigning a bit to get them into the overall HoF as well.  That way players outside of that region will also gain an appreciation for their contribution to the game.

[STAMP]

That is a great idea.  I'd similarly like to see some from Oregon.  These would be especially great if they included pictures.

I can't include pictures without approval, but starting with this list:

NorthWest Region:

Ben Arp
Josh Randolph
T.J. Stamp
Jonathan Steckmann
Scott Stamp
Jake Barone
Daniel Steckmann
Kris Graves
Stephen Fitzmaurice
Alex Mitchell

Ben Arp - One of the two best players in the NW.  He is probably the most versatile player as he has won NW events in every category.  Has been the lone NW representative at Nationals most years.  Ben always exhibits the best sportsmanship.  There are many young players who look up to Ben, in more ways than one.  I love Ben and his family dearly and treasure the opportunity I've had to know them.

Josh Randolph - One of the two best players in the NW including being the best at Type 2.  Josh is a youth pastor and has been a great leader for the kids in his youth and Redemption groups.  He is the ultimate Redemption coach.  Many kids have learned the game from Josh and gone on to be successful at tournaments.  He and his wife are two of the most gracious hosts you will ever meet.

Jonathan Steckmann - I believe Jonathan has been playing the longest of all NW players except for Ben.  He is a very deliberate player so rarely does he make a mistake.  Jonathan often beat Ben and Josh and can be considered in the top 3 in the NW.  After winning Type 1 and closed events at regionals in the past, Jonathan made the switch to Type 2 and proved it can be a seamless transition.  Jonathan and his nephew, Daniel, traveled to many NW tournaments over the years.

TJ Stamp - TJ accidentally found his niche in T1 Multi this year after years of favoring T2 and closed events.  For a few years TJ always beat Josh for the sealed deck trophy while Josh returned the favor in T2.  There rivalry was epic with no end to the trash talk and bravado.  TJ also holds the record for most times quitting and restarting the game actually selling his complete set of cards three times!

Kris Graves/Alex Mitchell - Kris and Alex were foster brothers that we met after their foster mother, Karen, contacted me about tournaments.  There were six foster brothers in the family and they all played A LOT!  Karen had one room in their big house that had folding tables set up for the boys to play Redemption.  After schoolwork and chores each boys' passion was Redemption.  Kris, Alex and Tim were the most accomplished players.  Kris was the boisterous one.  I had many a fun game playing against Kris.  One time we were both laughing so hard we almost didn't finish our match.  We nicknamed Alex the "silent assassin".  He was the quietest one of the bunch, but his game was lethal.

Jake Barone - The greatest thing about Jake is that he was saved during his Redemption career!  I will always believe that the game helped in his path home.  Jake can also be most remembered for the size of his Type 1 decks.  I tried to encourage him to use 56-63 card decks but there were too many cards he wanted to include.  Jake also had the worst luck.  He probably has the record for most close games lost when his SoG or NJ was in the next draw.

Denis Zemtsov - Denis played many of the other TCGs before he picked up Redemption.  He became a very good player very quick.  Like Alex he was very quiet.  He also had the best poker face!  Denis only had the opportunity to attend NW tournaments for a short while before he headed off to college.


Each group had many other good players.  Josh cultivated some true savants that just never got too many chances to showcase their excellence.  Although smaller in size compared to other regions, the NW has been very close-knit.  My best memories that I will carry with me forever are the multi games that Ben, Josh, TJ and I played following the conclusion of tournaments after most others had left.  By then we were running on fumes caused by sleep deprivation and hyped up on sugar and caffeine.  Those games were epic, especially for the amount of cheating and table talk that occurred!  Of course, the goal of those special games were more about how much fun we could have and not about winning or losing.

[YourMathTeacher]

The more I think about it, the more I think each region should have its own "Hall of Fame."  We could skip the national Hall of Fame, except for retired contributors such as Doug Gray and Kory Lentine. 

I agree. This is the kind of thing we could have discussed as a group and come to agreement on. However, the "one-man show" will continue in spite of any and all opposition.

[Isildur]

Well ive finaly finished reading through this whole thread and I have to agree with almost all of what Bryon has been saying. For California the only people besides Bryon and the Wolfes who havnt gone as a family have been me (and Chris Ramesy right?) so for every one besides us there have only been one chance for those players many of whom couldnt make it to that Nationals. I played back in the hayday of the CA playgroup and Andy along some of the other players of that day were VERY good players I think I may have beaten them all maybe once each over the years of playing them. Also if you add the number of Regionals some of our SoCal players have won compared to some of the people on the other Hall of Fame list we might get some interesting numbers. I am also shocked to see my name on that list lol It seems all those old School Booster draft and Sealed games I won really add up On a side note some of the top players in CA have also playtested since Apostles and C/D decks that should count for something shouldnt it?

[Bryon]

Brandan (Isildur) is a man after my own heart.  He builds cool theme decks (deacons!) and/or tests his skills with something that he knows will have little chance of winning (no cards post Apostles!), yet he somehow seems to find a way to place more often than not (hence his nice collection of RNRS points).  He has more fun at tournaments than most players, since he knows the point: fun and fellowship.

[TheKarazyvicePresidentRR]

Does he encourage sing alongs?