2008 Canadian Nationals Report
by Jonathan Ledezma
"Round 1: Fight!" was the sound ringing through the Maskoka Room at this year's Universal Fighting System Canadian Nationals. Forty of the finest players in the game gathered at the Renaissance Hotel during Anime North. Out of the forty incredible players, there was a huge variety of deck types running rampant. I was excited to see such a diverse collaboration of all twelve of the UFS Resource symbols. From the hype over the UFS meta, it was refreshing to see All, Life, Water, Void, and Order doing some crazy tech to fight their way into the top rankings of the tournament. There were plenty of surprises to help shake up the Canadian Nationals this year, from characters that no one saw coming to the players showing up last minute to try and take the Canadian crown like a thief in the night. The Top 8 players and decks were all great, but unfortunately only one could go home with the crown.
After Swiss rounds, the top 8 looked like this:
#1 Andrew Olexa (Life) Vega: 5-0-1
#2 Paul Bittner (All/Fire) Alex: 4-0-2
#3 Omar Chavez (All/Evil/Void) Voldo: 4-1-1
#4 Jonathan Herr (Evil) Ibuki: 4-1-1
#5 Shajir Islamuddin (Order/Void) Yun-Seong: 4-1-1
#6 Jeremy Rey (All) Alex: 4-1-1 Cut due to Diversity
#6 Andrew Tsan (Water/Void) Ukyo: 4-2
#7 Benjamin Broberg (Life) Nakoruru: 4-2
#8 Matt Kohls (Evil) Lilith: 3-1-2
2008 Canadian National Championship trophy to Jonathan Herr
The Canadian National crown has now been bestowed upon Jonathan Herr, a US native. Let the rivalry begin! For any Canadians who may be offended, nay, revolted by the idea of the Canadian National crown resting on a mantlepiece of an American home, I offer this challenge:
Take the power back.
June 2008. Columbus, Ohio. Origins Game Fair. I hereby challenge Canadian UFS players to take back what is rightfully yours, the UFS US National Championship!
Jon Herr has been supporting and masterfully playing UFS since the early days. As of May 25th, 2008, he is now the Canadian National Champion. Congratulations Jon, you deserve the crown!
Contrary to the earlier predictions, there was only one cut due to diversity, Promo Alex. Only two evil decks proved themselves worthy of making it to the Top 8 cut. Time wasn’t too much of an issue during the rounds of Swiss. Once we made it to Top 8 cuts, we extended the time in increments of ten minutes for each new cut. However, this action wasn’t needed for any of the top cuts.
I would like to thank everyone who took the time and was willing to travel to play in this year's 2008 Canadian Nationals. It was great to finally put some faces with the usernames which I have been reading and conversing with for over a year now. I can’t wait to hang out with more of you all to discuss UFS and how we can improve our community. Also, I would like to thank all the Judges who sacrificed their chance to play for the Championship to ensure that we had a smooth event. For those of you who weren't able to make it to Canadian Nationals this year, I encourage you to find a way to compete in any of our major UFS events. Meeting the veteran players, watching tons of different styles of play to take back home, and the sheer excitement of playing in large scale event are all part of the competitive UFS experience.
Thanks again everyone. Have fun and see you in the arena!
