Dissers Battle for the King and Queen of the Night 1v1 2018 Recap

HEIST OP DEN BERG, Belgium — 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 Dissers Battle for the King and Queen of the Night 1v1 tournament.

On Friday, May 18, 2018 Bryan Jones and Kyle Weakland made their way to Belgium after a week of adventures in western Germany, Austria, and Luxembourg. In Brussels, they were joined by Christopher Jones and his wife Abby Jones. After a train ride into Heist Op Den Berg and a short car ride thanks to local, Nick, the Kubb On: Tour guys would have their first kubb experience in Belgium at Friday night’s 1v1 tournament—the Dissers Battle for the King and Queen of the Night. After getting used to the smaller kubb sets used in the Schindhard tournament the previous weekend, Bryan Jones and Weakland had to readjust to Belgium’s sets, which were more comparable to those used in the United States but heavier (even more so than Phil Dickinson’s hardwood kubb sets). The pitch conditions proved unpredictable as the ground was hard, often causing inkasted kubbs to bounce.

The tournament used stakes with the 50 percent in-bounds rule. The format was best of five game matches with a 40 minute time limit, and the accelerated finish used as a tie-breaker. In round one, inkasting and the bounces due to hard ground got the better of Bryan Jones, who doesn’t normally fill that role when playing on a team, and he was knocked out by Belgian player Matti. Christopher Jones fared better and won his matches 3-0, moving on to the next round. Weakland received a first round bye, and was already anxiously awaiting the second round.

Despite being jet-lagged from his arrival earlier that day, Christopher Jones would manage to pull off the win of his second round match against Swiss player Becca (Rebecca Carlyle from 12 Tits United). Weakland would win his round two match as well, meaning both he and Christopher Jones would move on to the top 16.

Competition was at a high level in Belgium, and would prove especially true for round three. Jones would play against German player Dr. Grapevine (Toni Thürwanger), ultimately losing the match despite bringing it to time with eight kubbs in play. Weakland would also meet his victor, Dr. Drill from Belgium, in a 3-1 match with the last game finished in accelerated play. Both Jones and Weakland must have forgotten their apples that day, as they were eliminated by “doctors,” and would finish the evening tied ninth.

At this point, night was settling in and the Kubb On boys had to skip watching the finals to catch one of the last trains back to their hotel in Brussels. According to the livestreams on the Dissers Facebook page, the Battle for the Queen of the Night final would see Sophie Fischer of Switzerland up against Annabel Georges of Belgium. Fischer would take three games in a best of five match to win the title as Queen of the Night.

The Battle for the King of the Night final would play out next with Germany’s Toni Thürwanger (AKA: Dr. Grapevine) versus Belgium’s Kim Wallaert (AKA: Wally). Things kicked off with a game one win from Wallaert, answered by a game two win for Thürwanger. Game three went to Wallaert, but since this was a best of five match, both players still had a chance for victory going into the next game. Thürwanger started off strong, getting two baseline kubbs down with his two-baton first turn. Wallaert answered by clearing the field and adding two baseline kubbs. In his second turn of the game, Thürwanger cleared the field with one baton and knocked out his three remaining baseline kubbs, missing only one 8 meter throw, but would still have one baton to slay the king and take game four. Now with a 2-2 tie, the Battle for the King was really heating up as both opponents proved worthy of their place in the finals. Game five turned out to be a quick one, as Thürwanger went cold on 8 meters allowing Wallaert the opportunity to take the game in just three turns, and ultimately the title of King of the Night.

The 1v1 was a good warm up for the Kubb On: Tour team. It let them get a preview of the ground, throw a few (heavy) batons and kubbs, and get to meet many of the competitors they’d be battling against the next day. The fact that two of them finished tied ninth was a nice confidence booster going into Saturday’s team tournament.

Final Results

Queen of the Night

1. Sophie Fischer (Switzerland)
2. Annabel Georges (Belgium)

King of the Night

1. Kim Wallaert (Belgium)
2. Toni Thürwanger (Germany)