DBTrickster teamed up with Sigismar to win in the Eastern Asia Board Game Arena World Championship Qualifier Sept. 12-13. Banish_Pakacuti brought Teija all the way to the finals table but landed second. The qualifier was the third and final online opportunity to pick up a ticket to the Finals in Paris, Oct. 17-19.

The 382-player event, organized by the AWOL team, ran four groups playing 10 rounds of Swiss best-of-1, followed by a Top 32 cut to a single-elimination best-of-3 bracket. The event was streamed with commentary from the AWOL team.

Treyst was the most represented in the hero distribution, followed by Sigismar. Fen picked up third, followed by Basira. Among the Top 32 decks, 63% of the cards came from Beyond the Gates, 16% from Trial by Frost and 21% from Whispers from the Maze, according to 39cards.com.

Trickster’s Sigismar deck plays a high-efficiency game, with four characters who play from hand for 1 mana, backed up by the heaviest removal available.

• A Baba Yaga (3/3) unique draws a card with a token requirement when played from anywhere. Ozma (3/3) creates a token and draws with three characters when played from anywhere. With Sigismar as a hero, both uniques automatically trigger a card draw on any play. The Kakoba (4/4) creates additional tokens on play, and if four characters are in play at dusk, draws a blistering two additional cards. Kept asleep or anchored, the Kakoba could continue to trigger day after day.
• With so much card draw covered by the uniques, it’s a little surprising to see a full playset of rare Ordis Attorney. But it’s less so to see three rare Ordis Troopers, Sandman or Jack Frost, as those are all part of Sigismar’s standard control kit.
• Two rare Bumblebeet give additional 1-drop options from hand while getting quickly powered up by additional recruit tokens added to the expeditions (a trick that would be a handy option in its home faction of Muna). A final single rare Foundry Mechanic operates as an ostensible fourth Trooper, as there are no landmarks to assist with.
• In commons, the deck runs full playsets of Teamwork Training and License Withdrawal, some of the strongest, most efficient removal in the game overall. Three Monolith Legates finish off what that removal couldn’t cover.
• A full playset of Ordis Crier adds more 1-drop from hand options while boosting off of tokens, backed up by three Aegis Templars.

Prizing and next Qualifier

Trickster will join other finalists (such as Rinku from the Dallas, Texas, Qualifier) with travel and accommodations paid to the World Championship Finals Oct. 17-19. The Top 8 all received a Top 8 playmat, and the highest-placing player for each faction received their Faction Champion card.

The last World Championship Qualifier will be held in Athens, hosted by Organized Play Events Sept. 26-28.

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