Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Eric “Gil” Kimmons (1997-2003, 2007-Present) -

Gil was the first player to really push the limits of Redemption.  He used Tower on Silly Women to get himself initiative with a 0/0 evil character prompting the rule change that made */* an identifier that can't be negated.  He used Kingdoms of this World and Goshen to circumvent the duplicates in play rules forcing a change to the duplicates in play rules.  He was the first to abuse Gathering of Angels with The Strong Angel which lead to the eventual change making The Strong Angel unique.  In 2001, he built a deck designed to discard his opponent's draw pile by forcing Evil Spawn to fight against Evil Spawn in side battle after side battle after side battle (Gil's deck didn't end up working very well, but the strategy proved to be effective three years later when Ron built the devastator with the same goal in mind).  He played a role in the creation of the most well known errata in existence (Holy Grail).  He contributed to the development of the deck that changed the way we understand “Breaking the game.”  And I imagine there are more major rules that he had a hand in establishing that I have forgotten to mention or am not aware of.  Gil knew the rules of the game better than anyone else that played the game, and used that knowledge to his advantage.

Statistics:

Gil is one of only two players to have won an event at four different national tournaments and the only player to win an event at four consecutive national tournaments.

Contributions:

Gil hosted a local tournament in 1998 that had more than twice at many participants (26) as the national tournament in 1998 had (10).  This is the only tournament, that I am aware of, that outdrew that year's national tournament.

The longest-running playgroup in the nation (WildCard) has been hosted/run by Gil since 1998.

Gil compiled a rules Q and A in the late 90's that was used by Mike Berkenpas as a starting point for the first REG (which was actually called the FAQ at the time).

Anecdote:

During the 2001 North Central Regional Tournament a ruling question came up that no one was quite sure about.  Gil went over to the stuff he'd brought, pulled out a stack of at least a hundred pages or rules questions and answers, and within a few minutes found a ruling made by Doug Gray (one of the three official voices at the time) on the exact issue in question.

While I'm sure I've played at least a hundred games against Gil over the years surprisingly few of them stand out as uniquely memorable experiences.  I have dozens of memories of great Redemption moments with Gil, but somehow none of them happened while playing against him.  The one game that does stand out a little bit from the rest is the game we played in Type 2 – 2 Player at the Nebraska State Tournament in 2003.  That year we had stumbled onto an amazing deck idea and had been working, somewhat together somewhat independently, on implementing the idea for several months.  As we played against each other, we discussed the decks we were playing with; their weaknesses, how they could be improved, what we liked best about them.  While sitting there trying to stop each others decks, we were at the same time giving each other advice on how to improve the deck we were playing against.

Hey,

Why the 4 year break in the middle? Did Gil continue to host 'WildCard' during this time?

I think I'll make Gil give the explanation of the four year break.  I haven't really heard him explain it since it happened in 03 (I don't think).  I was there, so I know the general reason, but I'm not entirely sure of the specifics.

The break was an abstention from hosting and participating in tournaments, not from Redemption entirely.  He still played casually (although far, far, far less than he did before the break) and still hosted WildCard.

Tschow,

Tim "Sir Nobody" Maly

Let the VOTING begin!
Day 1

Please remember to only vote for 2 people from each category.  Feel free to check the first post of this thread to get a summary of each of the candidates (and links to further info about some of the lesser known candidates).

Justin Alstad and Josh Hey for players Rob and Chis Bany for contibuters

can we vote some of the players for contributors as well?
Ron and Justin for players
Roy and Gil (or if we can't do Gil, I'll do Mike)

Contributors: Anderson and Bany
Players: Isbell and Sias


Comedian: Steve Braun

Players: Tim and Keith
Contributors: Chris and Rob

Gabe/ Justin
Rob/ Roy

Quote from: Prof Underwood on January 28, 2010, 05:03:04 PM

Let the VOTING continue!
Day 2

Please remember to only vote for 2 people from each category.  Feel free to check the first post of this thread to get a summary of each of the candidates (and links to further info about some of the lesser known candidates).

FINE.   

Rob belongs as THE charter member and should not need to be voted in.

Players:  Bartram/Hey    (Because I believe a Hall of Fame should not contain active players.)

Contributor: Rob's wife