Hi everyone!
When I signed up for the 2026 MeCCG World Championship, winning it was probably the last thing on my mind.
I hadn't been very active in MeCCG lately, but there was something special about this World Championship. It was being held in Barcelona, just forty minutes from my home, and it was a fantastic opportunity to catch up with friends from the Spanish and international communities, play some good games, and enjoy a weekend around this wonderful game.
I also had some extra motivation: I'd been working for a while on a deck built around some unusual ideas, and I was really looking forward to testing it at a tournament of this level.
I'd also like to thank Marc Roca (Cram) for hosting and organizing the championship at his venue in central Barcelona, and all the players who took part, especially those who travelled from other countries.
And thanks to Marcos Cáceres for helping me fine-tune the deck, and to the whole community for keeping MeCCG alive after all these years.
The deck
For this World Championship I decided to play my latest creation: The Lady of the Rings, a hero deck with a rather unusual strategy and two possible paths to victory. You can focus on scoring points through rings and factions or, if the circumstances are right, try to destroy The One Ring. The most interesting part is that you don't need to decide which path to take at the start of the game.
I'd tested earlier versions without much success, but I was still convinced the idea could work.
You can find the deck on play.meccg.com at the links below. Be sure to check the explanation section to see how it works.
The Lady of the Rings deck vs Hero
The Lady of the Rings deck vs Minion
Here I'll focus on what happened during the championship.
Saturday — Qualifying rounds
Round 1 — Wolfgang (7-0)
My first opponent was Wolfgang, a familiar face in the international community and one of the organizers of Lure of MeCCG in Bacharach, Germany.
It's always a pleasure to play against him. He's an experienced player, but also a really nice person, and you know you'll enjoy the game regardless of the result.
After so long without playing in international tournaments, starting against Wolfgang was a great way to return to competition.
Wolfgang was playing a Return of the King deck around Gondor, with a corruption-based hazard strategy.
My hazards didn't cause him too much trouble, but at least I could use them to cycle my hand and draw cards.
On the other hand, my deck worked well against his corruption hazards. I was able to develop my strategy without too many problems and, since I had The One Ring in my hand, I decided to play it and destroy it.
Win 7-0.
A good start to the championship, although there was still a very long way to go.
Round 2 — Heiner (7-0)
My second opponent was Heiner, a four-time world champion and the defending champion at the time. He also knows an incredible amount about deckbuilding, and whenever I've asked him for help, he's always been happy to answer my questions.
At this tournament he was playing his well-known Radagast deck, a strategy he has mastered: fast, safe, and very versatile.
On my first turn I went to Gladden Fields to get a gold ring. Heiner played Unabated in Malice and Tidings of Bold Spies, and ended up killing Glóin with a strike of 9 prowess. Then Thráin entered the site and was wounded when he only needed to roll a 4 to survive the automatic-attack.
I had to return to a haven to heal Thráin and try again using Great-road. But my luck still hadn't improved: I rolled a 3, Thráin was wounded again, and eventually he died too.
On the next turn I tried with Beorn and Glorfindel. Beorn was wounded by the automatic-attack as well, but luckily Glorfindel managed to play the ring.
Something I would normally have achieved on the first turn had taken me three or four turns and several characters. Meanwhile, Heiner had finished his deck and called the Council in just four or five turns.
At that moment I remembered something my friend Manuel Cabezalí once told me: when a game is going badly, you have to "hang on to the table".
I had Galadriel, Thranduil, Glorfindel, Gandalf, Beorn, and Bombur in Lórien. In my hand I had a Precious Gold Ring, a Leaf Brooch, a Wizard's Test, and The One Ring.
The game looked almost certainly lost, but I still had one chance: to find and destroy The One Ring.
First I used Wizard's Test to test a Precious Gold Ring. I got either a magic ring or a lesser ring; I can't remember exactly which.
I had one last ring and one last chance.
I tapped Gandalf to test it and rolled an 11. I'd found The One Ring!
After all that bad luck, I'd literally found it on my very last chance. But the hardest part was still ahead: destroying it.
I quickly brought two Cracks of Doom and two A Friend or Three in from my sideboard.
From that point on, I needed to cycle my hand as quickly as possible. I reorganized my companies, refilled my hand by moving a company consisting of a one-mind character in Lórien, and then drew three cards during the movement to Mount Doom.
And then came my second stroke of luck: I drew Cracks of Doom and both copies of A Friend or Three just in time.
Heiner tried to stop me with Nazgûl, two River, and Call of Home, but I managed to get past his hazards, reach Mount Doom, and destroy the Ring.
Win 7-0.
As long as there's still a chance, however small, you shouldn't give up.
Round 3 — Marc Roca (Cram) (1-5)
My third opponent was Marc Roca (Cram), the World Championship organizer. Marc is a very experienced player, hard to predict, and especially creative with his hazards.
He was playing a Stewards deck similar to one by Ángel Bandini that I'd used myself in the past, so I knew quite well how it worked.
Marc knew my deck needed time to develop, and focused on ending the game as quickly as possible. He called the Council in just four turns, while I still had half my deck left to play. My resources had developed slowly and my hazards had barely slowed him down.
I also got to see his hand and found that he had quite a collection of hazards ready in case I decided to try to destroy The One Ring: Wild Fell Beast, Echoes of the Song, Call of Home, Roving Eye, and Golodhros. Reaching Mount Doom wouldn't have been easy either.
Loss 1-5.
It was a convincing defeat, but also a chance to think about what had gone wrong and learn from it for the next games.
Round 4 — Javi Heavy Épico (6-0)
My fourth opponent was Javi, whom we call Épico, a great friend I always really enjoy playing against.
Javi was running a strategy with four hobbits exploring dragon sites and Pallando at Grey Havens.
The decisive moment came when I was able to make use of a Daelomin I had in play. I discarded it to increase my hazard limit by two and managed to kill Sam with three Assassins.
My hazards were heavily focused on tapping sites and making movement difficult. Without a ranger, his hobbits were much more vulnerable to those effects, and he found it very hard to develop his game.
From then on, I was able to play my resources quite freely and secure a comfortable victory, this time without needing to destroy The One Ring.
Win 6-0.
I'd won using the other path to victory offered by my deck: accumulating points through resources.
Round 5 — Imanol (1-5)
My last opponent on Saturday was Imanol, another good friend of many years and the organizer of the Bilbao gathering.
Imanol is a very experienced player, especially with minion decks. This time he was playing Balrog with a Tempest of Fire strategy and powerful troll leaders around Mordor.
I knew the deck very well because I'd played it myself for years, even winning Lure with it.
After my loss to Marc, I had some doubts about how my deck would perform against another minion deck. And those doubts were justified.
Interestingly, Imanol and I were both using roadblock hazard strategies. The good thing was that my deck was fairly well protected against those effects, precisely because I used them myself.
I managed to cause him quite a lot of trouble: I forced him to return several times, tapped sites, and made many of his movements difficult. In fact, my hazards worked better than I'd expected.
But the problem was my resources. My deck was too slow, I couldn't get the factions I needed into play, and I didn't draw The One Ring either. When I tested my rings, the results were poor: I only got two lesser rings.
Although I'd managed to slow Imanol down, I hadn't accumulated enough victory points.
Loss 1-5.
I finished Saturday with three wins and two losses: two destructions of The One Ring, one comfortable win on points, and two losses against minion decks.
Despite that, the points I'd scored were enough to qualify for the finals in second place.
An all-Spanish final
Marc, Álvaro Mordakai, Imanol, and I qualified for the final. Interestingly, all four of us were Spanish and friends.
It wasn't a particularly promising situation for me, though: all three were playing minion decks, and Marc and Imanol had already beaten me during the qualifying rounds. What's more, this World Championship didn't allow deck changes for the final stage, so I'd have to face the same strategies that had caused me so much trouble.
I went home thinking Sunday would probably be difficult, without much expectation of winning the World Championship. My goal was still the same: take it one game at a time, play as well as I could, and above all enjoy the tournament.
Sunday — The finals
Final, round 1 — Marc Roca (Cram) (3-3)
My first opponent on Sunday was Marc again.
During the hours between Saturday and Sunday, I thought about what I'd done wrong in our first game. And I came to a fairly simple conclusion:
I had to play faster.
On Saturday I'd tried to hold on to hazards to set up combinations that could really hurt Marc. But that had stopped me from cycling through my hand quickly enough.
When you hold too many cards waiting for the perfect moment, you stop drawing new ones. And against a deck as fast as his, that can be fatal.
So I decided to change the way I played: instead of saving hazards for big combinations, I'd play as much as possible, cycle my hand, and develop my resources as quickly as I could.
Marc also played very quickly, as expected, but this time I managed to keep up with him.
On top of that, I was able to play two Landroval on the first turn, killing one of his characters and wounding another. That seriously disrupted the company he had moving around Mordor, to the point where he could barely play anything with it.
Meanwhile, I managed to play plenty of resources, including Dwarven rings and other items.
Marc, however, still had an important advantage: his Stewards deck could score a lot of points quickly and safely.
On the last turn I tried to stop his Stewards with Snowstorm, but he was well protected with The Great Eye and two Deeper Shadow.
He also doubled his ally points, since I hadn't played any allies.
Although I'd scored quite a few item points and a faction, I didn't have enough characters or points in other categories to prevent some of my points from being reduced under the scoring rules.
I finished with 26 points.
Draw 3-3.
I'd gone from a clear loss against Marc to a draw simply by changing how I managed my hand and sped up my deck. And I'd come quite close to winning.
That was a good sign.
Final, round 2 — Imanol (5-1)
My next opponent was Imanol again. After what I'd learned against Marc, I knew I had to keep cycling my hand quickly.
In our first game I'd seen that my hazards could really disrupt his strategy, although this time Imanol knew what to expect and would probably play more cautiously.
I managed to combine Long Winter with Withered Lands, as well as play Snowstorm, Nameless Thing, and Sellswords Between Charters. I killed Buthrakaur and managed to slow his development considerably.
But the big difference from Saturday was in my resources. This time I was able to play plenty of items and factions, finish my deck, and accumulate enough points to win.
Win 5-1.
It was one of the key games of the championship. I'd managed to correct Saturday's mistakes without changing a single card in my deck.
Only one game remained.
The last game... would have to wait
My last opponent was Álvaro Mordakai, another good friend and an excellent player. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to play our game on Sunday, as Álvaro had to leave. We decided to postpone it until the following Thursday and play online.
Marc and Imanol were able to finish their match, but Álvaro and I preferred not to know the result so it wouldn't influence our game.
We announced the match through several community channels, and when Thursday at 14:30 arrived, we had around twenty spectators watching live.
For my part, I tried to focus on playing as well as I could without thinking too much about the standings.
Final, round 3 — Álvaro Mordakai
Although I hadn't played against Álvaro yet, I expected him to use his Eriador deck, with Grimburgoth and the Lieutenant of Morgul to recruit the Hillmen, Dunlendings, and Ice Orcs factions.
He quickly played Doors of Night, and I saw a Foul Fumes in his hand, so I understood his strategy: combine Morgul's Night with Foul Fumes to tap my sites and protect himself against hazards that attack in Wilderness regions.
However, it was a double-edged sword, because my hazards also benefited from Doors of Night, and I could cause him plenty of trouble with Long Winter, Withered Lands, Snowstorm, and Nameless Thing.
I started reasonably well, getting a ring and bringing it to Lórien during the first two turns. Then Álvaro started tapping my sites, making it difficult for me to develop my resources. Luckily, I could stay in Lórien and focus on cycling my hand, while my hazards managed to tap The White Towers and Dunlending Hold.
I knew Álvaro could score a lot of points through factions, so I needed to play at least one to stop him from doubling his points in that category. Getting an ally was also important.
Halfway through the game I decided to give up on destroying The One Ring: I only had a Fair Gold Ring, which required a roll of 11 or 12 to become the One, and just one Leaf Brooch. The odds were too low, so I decided to focus on winning on points instead.
My ring tests didn't go well either: two lesser rings and a Magic Ring of Words, worth just seven points altogether.
When I called the Council, the score was 28-20 in my favour, but Álvaro still had his final turn. I'd saved two Twilight, Withered Lands, and Long Winter to try to stop him.
The decisive play came on that last turn. I'd already played Withered Lands on Cameth Brin, and Álvaro had cancelled my first Long Winter with The Great Eye. I needed to find a second copy to tap the site.
And then, when I drew my second-to-last card, Mouth of Sauron appeared, allowing me to play that second Long Winter and finally tap Cameth Brin.
That prevented Álvaro from recruiting Hillmen, a four-point faction that would have allowed him to draw the game.
You can watch the full match on YouTube.
And just like that, five years later, I won my second MeCCG world title!
Final thoughts
After so many years playing MeCCG, I'm still surprised that there are strategies left to explore and new ways to build decks. This championship was a great example of that.
It also makes me think about everything I've learned from other players over the years. Many of the decisions we make during a game come from experiences, advice, and ideas we've shared with other people.
And that's exactly what I love most about this community. More than thirty years after the game's release, we're still organizing tournaments, sharing knowledge, and discovering new possibilities.
I'm convinced there's still plenty left for us to discover.
Worlds 2026 Tournament Report
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Khamul the Easterling
- Ex Council Member
- Posts: 384
- Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:16 pm
- Location: Cologne
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Congratulations, Kodi! An exceptionally well-earned championship - and a fantastic report, too! Highly enjoyable to read!
So am I, and it's one of the features making the game so outstanding.After so many years playing MeCCG, I'm still surprised that there are strategies left to explore and new ways to build decks.
