Congratulations to Robert Zahn for winning the Canadian National Diplomacy Championship at BreakoutCon in Toronto. The tournament was best two rounds of three in classical Diplomacy, with added games for "Era of Empire" and "The Golden Blade".

The tournament finale was hotly contested, with local favorite John Carpenter being narrowly edged out by Robert Zahn in the third round. Zahn rode two board tops (Germany and England) to the championship.

 

The event was held at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Toronto. This was an excellent location because it was within walking distance of many restaurants and tourist sites. I traveled to the convention with my family; combined we had a lot of Diplomacy and sightseeing on the schedule.

During our stay, we visited the Royal Ontario Museum, Casa Loma, the Polson Pier, and the CN Tower, among other stops. Toronto is a fantastic international city, so there’s plenty of fine dining to enjoy. We began our trip with dinner at Makilala with some friends from Toronto and finished at the 360 restaurant in the CN Tower for some amazing views. Over the years we’ve had many Diplomacy players travel to the States from Canada. We were happy to finally give the Canadian Diplomacy fans a home game.

 

The Diplomacy tournament was held at Breakout Con (https://breakoutcon.com/), which has been running for over a decade. Renegade has a presence at the convention via Chris Chung, a Toronto native who’s also a notable game designer (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/71997/christopher-chung). However, this was the first full year of coordination with the organizing committee. We were eager to host an event in the Toronto area because there are many Diplomacy players in the region, and several members of the Renegade Heroes program. The convention was also a satellite event for the World Series of Board Gaming, which Renegade is also a sponsor of. Perfect opportunity to bring more events to our Canadian supporters. Many thanks to the organizers at BreakoutCon: David, Christian, Pete, and Yvonne.

 

The tournament structure was similar to our other Diplomacy events at Origins Game Fair and PrezCon: best two rounds out of three in classical Diplomacy with a scoring system that favors placement on the board. As expected, Canada was well represented in every round, with players from as close as the University of Toronto and as far away as Calgary. We had some special guests travel in to support the tournament as well, including PrezCon champion Robert Zahn and the crew from Legendary Tactics (https://www.youtube.com/c/LegendaryTactics). 

The early tournament leader was local John Carpenter of Mississauga. John has previously won Origins Game Fair, and he was enjoying home field advantage for the first time. He cruised to a large board top as Russia in the first round. He could have pushed for even more but elected to show grace to his opponents. As a former player, I think this is a wise meta move. There are still two more rounds to be played. A magnanimous gesture to start the tournament could pay off in the other two rounds. No need to create bad blood even if players do claim to “reset” in between games. 

Saturday was a jam-packed day of Diplomacy. We had two rounds of classical Diplomacy planned plus “The Golden Blade” card game plus “Diplomacy: Era of Empire”. Board tops early by Dylan (Kit) Surovec and Robert Zahn brought them closer to John Carpenter, who did NOT experience a return of goodwill from his play the round prior. The group broke for lunch at Chef’s Hall after the second round. Chef’s Hall is just across the street from the hotel and is a market-style collection of restaurants, so everyone can order something they like. It felt very “Origins” to me with the North Market across the street from the convention center. It was a great, easy option to get lunch between events.

 

Before the third and final round, players had the opportunity to first play “Era of Empire”. Many in attendance own the game but haven’t had a chance to play since it was released last year, so I had the joy as co-designer of watching others play their first game. Adrian Ongteco topped the board as Britain with some strong roleplay as Queen Victoria’s forces. The group then switched into “The Golden Blade” card game with an hour before the final round. The game had just been released to the public the day before, so it was also a fresh experience for all except John Carpenter, who had playtested the game. Once again Adrian Ongteco came out on top. He started the day with a one-center Russia that never got to build and had rattled off two wins in two different games. Would his fortune carry over to the Third Round?

 

The final round in every Diplomacy tournament always has twists and turns, even if there is a leader in the clubhouse. In this situation, the field was wide open because no one had claimed two board tops. The two players with the best chances of winning were John Carpenter and Robert Zahn. They were paired on the final board together, with John as Austria to Robert’s England. Both are familiar with the tournament structure, having won multiple tournaments before, just at other events. Then the question becomes how much tournament meta plays a factor, because both players are playing to win. In Zahn’s theater, he manages to grab the North from Russia and establishes a stranglehold on Scandinavia. In the East, John established a strong alliance with Adrian’s Turkey to similarly put pressure on Russia. They leveraged Italy by first sending him west versus France, then executed a three Power stab of Italy by bringing France into the alliance. An excellent backstab coordinated by John to put him in the driver’s seat as board top. However, tournaments aren’t decided mid-game.

 

The early news of Russia’s demise was greatly exaggerated. Vitaly Gam, playing in his first tournament, led others to believe he was finished and would accept an elimination of the Power, since Russia’s situation was dire. Onto other games at the convention. But no, not Vitaly. He arranged for a German stab of England in Moscow, then accepted support back into Rumania to stay alive at one center. The subsequent year saw his lone Rumanian unit be part of a beleaguered garrison against 3 attacking Powers. Vitaly had fooled me as well. The sudden change of fortunes opened up the board. Germany’s one center stab of England in Moscow resulted in Zahn turning his many fleets on Germany. The riposte from England took down Denmark & Belgium, and threatened to steamroll the board to victory. And that’s where things got interesting.

 

Based on tournament standings, John would beat Robert by finishing ahead of him on that board. However, it was possible for John to win the tournament by having someone other than Robert finish in first place. John could play the kingmaker on the board, ensuring that person (Adrian’s Turkey in this case) would board top, thereby pushing Robert down in the standings. I watched this play out live as Tournament Director (TD). As TD, I’m there to adjudicate orders and take pictures and resolve potential disputes. I hold my personal thoughts on the game until after the tournament. I was quite curious to see how this would play out over the board, because the moves on the board were there to get John the championship.

 

John and Robert were openly talking about this tournament placement situations because John was hoping for a draw vote that would end the game in a first-place tie on the board, giving John the championship and Robert second place. Robert Zahn has won many tournaments, and he wasn’t ready to back down. To John’s credit, even though he could have pushed Turkey over England in the game, he elected for fairplay. He decided to play the game on its own terms. Not for a championship, not for the North American Grand Prix, but the game in front of them. Robert ended up playing that way as well – to win the board. To both their credit, after the initial discussion they played for a true end to the game. Turkey ended up tying England for the board top, with Austria taking third. The Canadian National Championship was claimed by Robert Zahn.

 

I’ve played in dozens tournaments across the world. I think there’s merit in the argument to either approach: playing each game in isolation and playing the tournament meta. I’ve vacillated between both approaches in competitive play. Leveraging someone’s goals in the game, whatever they may be, is a legitimate approach. Likewise, I think it’s fun to play for your best position on a single board – do your best. I personally would have approached the ending the same way John did, because I wouldn’t feel the victory was “well-earned” the other way. If I was in Zahn’s shoes and the same draw vote was held that would give me second to John’s first, I probably take it because I think John played masterfully that tournament. But that’s because I see more of everyone’s game across the event rather than one perspective. I’ve also grown softer after decades of play. A younger more cutthroat me would have turned the vote down just as Zahn did, and go for the championship. I’m curious what people reading this think about John’s decision to let the game play out.

 

Congratulations to Robert Zahn on winning the Canadian National Diplomacy Championship and to John Carpenter for finishing second and to Adrian Ongteco for finishing third. In addition to the championship plaque, we also awarded a copy of “The Golden Blade” card game to our top seven finishers. The podium (top three) finishers each received a Diplomacy hat. And we had many other awards to hand out. . .

 

Best Diplomat went to Adrian Ongteco of Calgary, Alberta for his play across all three Diplomacy games. He emphasized the roleplay aspect of Powers during the classical Diplomacy tournament, which was a fan favorite. He also achieved a world first in Diplomacy: winning three different Diplomacy games in the SAME day. Adrian won as Britain during the "Era of Empire" game. He followed that with a win in the newly released "Golden Blade" card game. He finished the night with a board top as Turkey in classical Diplomacy. Not bad for his first tournament!

 

The Golden Blade for Best Stab went to John Carpenter for his coordinated three Power stab of Italy in the final round. Zahn won a wooden Diplomacy board to pair with his championship plaque. We plan to return to BreakoutCon next year for another Canadian Championship! 

Top Board:

1st - Robert Zahn

2nd - John Carpenter

3rd - Adrian Ongteco

4th - Dylan Surovec

5th - Owen Casselman

6th - Aaron Fischer

7th - Mike Keepence

Best Country:

Austria - Dylan Surovec

England - Robert Zahn

France - Owen Casselman

Germany - Robert Zahn

Italy - Mike Keepence

Russia - John Carpenter

Turkey - Adrian Ongteco

 

Additional Awards:

Best Diplomat - Adrian Ongteco

Best Propagandist - Vitaly Gam

Best Historian - Aaron Fischer

Golden Blade (Best Stab) - John Carpenter

New Player - Ryan Lu