The first round pairings have all been announced! Big thanks to Matt Carmack for hosting it on his Twitch channel. I’ll update with a link to the YouTube version as soon as he has it posted.
The lists are all available here.
I’ve highlighted 4 matches below that I think are particularly interesting. First, the current defending Master versus the original Kings of War Master is definitely one to watch. Chances are that we’ll be streaming Keith Conroy versus Patrick Zoro Allen in round 1.
Next, Jeff O’Neal versus Garrett Mercier is a classic match up of a fast elite army versus cheap hordes and shooting. Jeff’s list is considered one of those ‘gatekeeper’ lists that you have to plan to encounter at some point if you are making a serious run for the top, and Garret is on a lot of peoples’ short lists for the podium this year.
Jeremy Duvall versus Erich Trowbridge should be a very good match. Both lists are considered strong in the meta right now (Twilight Kin and Air Element… I mean Forces of Nature), Jeremy’s reportedly been getting in a lot of practice, and Erich is a former Master.
Dustin Howard versus Matt Griffin is the sort of match up I would expect to see towards the end of the event. Dustin is always a tough competitor, and you can’t have a serious conversation about who will be the Master or Paragon without hearing his name. Matt is on a lot of peoples’ Dark Horse list this year, but here in the first round his Sylvan Kin have drawn a triple Shadowhulk Nightstalker list with an expert pilot. I feel like Dustin has the edge, but he has been stung by first round upsets before.
Also, I think Lex Simon has had to drop and Michael Pearcy will be playing in his spot.
Those are the ones that I’m most interested in seeing the results of, which of the first round matches are you most excited about?
Check out our coverage on our YouTube Channel over the weekend for updates on these matches as the results start coming in, and also keep your eyes open for round or daily recap articles that I’ll try to get out as I have time.
| Player 1 | Player 2 | Table Number |
| Ken Heisler (Northeast) | Tom Annis (South) | 1 |
| Mike Rossi (Northeast) | Tyler Schultz (Mountain) | 2 |
| Cory Walizer (Northeast) | Donny Krosch (Mid West) | 3 |
| Pat O’Niell (Northeast) | Keith Randall (Southeast) | 4 |
| Greg Person (Northeast) | Nathan Clevenger (Southeast) | 5 |
| Jon Vanase (Northeast) | Kyle Timberlake (West) | 6 |
| Corey Reynolds (Northeast) | Gareth Davies (Pacific Northwest) | 7 |
| Keith Conroy (Northeast) | Patrick Zoro Allen (South) | 8 |
| Dan Cammack (Southeast) | Mike Szedlmayer (Mid Atlantic) | 9 |
| Jeff O’Neal (Southeast) | Garrett Mercier (Mountain) | 10 |
| Bryce Clark (Southeast) | Luke Fraser (Pacific Northwest) | 11 |
| Larry Essick (Southeast) | Ray Weiandt (Mid Atlantic) | 12 |
| Rashad Navidi (Southeast) | Alan Wigness (Mid West) | 13 |
| Devlin Smith (Southeast) | Drew Allan (Pacific Northwest) | 14 |
| Ryan Munsell (Pacific Northwest) | Matt Carmack (Mountain) | 15 |
| Brian Happynook (Pacific Northwest) | Kara Brown (Mid West) | 16 |
| Dan Wright (BC) (Pacific Northwest) | Grant Fetter (Mid West) | 17 |
| Peter Fry (Pacific Northwest) | Nic Murray (West) | 18 |
| Dan Wright (OR) (Pacific Northwest) | Mike Grant (West) | 19 |
| Jeremy Duvall (West) | Erich Trowbridge (Mid West) | 20 |
| Brinton Williams (West) | Michael Ireland (Mid Atlantic) | 21 |
| Zac Pierce (West) | Jeff Radigan (south) | 22 |
| Shawn Polka (West) | Marc Taylor (Mid West) | 23 |
| Blake Robertson (West) | John Green Jr (South) | 24 |
| Jeff Franz (Mid West) | Lex Simon (South) | 25 |
| Jesse Berglund (Mid West) | Bart Koehler (Mid Atlantic) | 26 |
| Adam Ballard (Mountain) | Marcelo Rouco (Mid Atlantic) | 27 |
| Billy Henninger (Mountain) | Alex Chavez (Mid Atlantic) | 28 |
| Michael Sigler (Mountain) | Hank George (South) | 29 |
| Andrew Minton (Mountain) | Kat Royer (Mid Atlantic) | 30 |
| Brad McKay (South) | Stephen DeRose (Mountain) | 31 |
| Dustin Howard (South) | Matt Griffin (Mid Atlantic) | 32 |
