SCHINDHARD, Germany — As previously reported, a few Kubb On staff members are making the trip to Europe to compete in the 3 Nations Cup. Throughout the trip, we’ll be recapping their adventures. This is a recap of their experiences at the Pfäzler Kubb Open.
The morning of the tournament, the Kubb On guys got up and walked to the grounds to see some people practicing with their teams as well as many people emerging from their tents and campers parked next to the pitches. The setting of the tournament is definitely one of the best in kubb, with bright green trees covering the mountains that surround you in all directions and a rocky cliff topped off with a Hagar Schindard club flag. In this tournament, Bryan Jones and Kyle Weakland would split up to play on foreign teams. Jones would be playing with Nicolas Eugster and Bastien Pauchard as M3, while Weakland would partner with Aline Rennhard and Nicolas Vögeli to represent Kubb On: Tour and earn points for the 3 Nations Cup.
After a quick rules and format discussion, play began with every team put into groups of four to five teams. Everyone would play two-game sets against the other teams in their group with the top two teams from each group moving on to a winners’ bracket and the bottom two moving on to a consolation bracket where they could work themselves back into the championship bracket by placing in the top two of their consolation group.
Both Kubb On: Tour and M-3 were placed in groups with some major firepower. M3was in the same group as the Kubb’ings and Kubb On: Tour was grouped with Kubb Monsieur. After the qualifying round of group play, both teams earned third place in their group and would have to battle back in the consolation round of group play to advance back into championship play.
There was a break between rounds to set up the next round of group play. The biggest difference between this tournament and all the those in the U.S. is that this tournament goes at its own pace. This makes for a more relaxing, laid back and fun environment! You are able to get a drink or food and watch some kubb while you wait for your next match to start.
After the second round of group play both teams had earned their way back into championship play and after two more rounds each team had made it to the top 16 where they would play a best of three set to move on to the next round. M3 matched up with Kubb’ings and lost 2-0. Kubb On: Tour was matched with Team Panda and lost 2-1. Both teams were eliminated from championship play, but they still had the opportunity to find their ranking from nine to 16. They would both go on to win two more games, and finally meet in a final match to earn ninth place. Kubb On: Tour struck first and never looked back, winning the game in just three turns, which can be watched on the archived Facebook Live stream.
After play was over for both Jones and Weakland, they went on to watch the rest of the final matches. Once again, everyone got their drinks and sat around the championship pitch for the final match between KP Wild Dogs and Team Panda, both from Switzerland. The best of five match was everything you’d hope it would be with big shots and late game heroics from KP Wild Dogs’ Christoph Fischer to win the championship. This match was also streamed, and the Facebook Live archive is available to watch. The environment was electric—unlike anything you really get in the U.S., aside from the U.S. National Championship match.
As storms started to roll in, the award ceremony was held and awards given out to all the top teams for their excellent play. Like kubb in the U.S., everyone was genuinely happy for everyone else’s success throughout the day. This tournament really exemplifies the kubb motto “Kubb unites people and creates peace on earth.” Kubb On’s experiences were better than they could have imagined. The tournament was great, but the people were even greater, and that’s what makes the kubb community some of the best citizens in the world.
Final Results
- KP Wild Dogs
- Team Panda
- Horstcrew
