Voyages of Marco Polo 2020 PBEM Report
During the first round of the 2020 Voyages of Marco Polo PBEM tournament, thirty participants completed a total of thirty games, advancing fifteen players to the semifinal round. Three players managed to earn three wins in Round 1: Keith Dent, Allan Jiang, and Ming Hon, while seven other players each earned two wins.
In the semifinal round, another fifteen games were played with Allan Jiang again leading the field with three wins. Peter Ran, Connie Vogelmann, and Dominic Blais each earned two wins during the semifinal. They were joined in the final by Robb Effinger, Michael Swinson, and David Vestal.
In the final round, the finalists played seven games to determine a champion. Six of these games were won by Michael Swinson and Connie Vogelmann, each earning three victories. The winner would be determined by the results of their 4th games, with Michael’s third place finish edging out Connie’s fourth place. The top 6 finishers were:
- Michael Swinson
- Connie Vogelmann
- Allan Jiang
- Robb Effinger
- Peter Ran
- Dominic Blais
Michael won a total of five games throughout the three rounds of the tournament and used the Wilhelm von Rubruk character in each of these wins, demonstrating a mastery of a character many consider difficult to play well. Wilhelm von Rubruk was the story of the tournament, posting the highest win rate of any character at 46.15% and earning the 2nd most wins with 12. This is a significant change from WBC 2019 where the character failed to win a single game.
Mercator ex Tabriz finished with the 2nd highest win rate at 34.15% and most total wins with 14, a trend that continued from WBC 2019. However if we separate the first round from the semifinal/final, we notice a decline in win rate from 40% to 25%, indicating that the character is not quite as powerful amongst more experienced players. Berke Khan had the highest average finish at 2.06 along with the 3rd highest win rate (32.26%) and total wins (10). On the other end, Rashid ad-Din Sinan had the lowest winning percentage (4.55%) and fewest wins (1).
34.62% of winners had the most contracts (or tied for most).
44.23% of winners had the most points from destination cards and 51.92% of winners had at least 20 points from destination cards.
48.08% of winners placed all of their trading posts. This includes 83.33% of Wilhelm von Rubruk winners who placed all 11 trading posts.
28.85% of winners were first to get to Beijing, however 96.15% of winners did have a trading post in Beijing.
Once again congratulations to Michael Swinson and to all of the laurelists, and thank you to everyone who participated in the event.
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