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WTCOC 2023 updates
The WTCOC stands for the 'World Team Carcassonne Online Championship'. Here, national teams battle each other, in a 5 vs 5 and best of 3 concept, for the title of Best Team of the World. Belgium became 6th in the 2022 edition, organized by carcassonne.cat and played on Board Game Arena.

Group Stage Standing

Group D
Team (MP - DW - DL - GW - GL)
1. Portugal   (3-3-11-4-24-12)
2. France   (4-2-12-8-30-21)
3. Argentina   (3-2-10-5-23-14)
4. Chile   (3-2-10-5-21-15)
5. United States   (3-2-7-8-16-21)
6. Belgium   (4-1-8-12-21-28)
7. Greece   (3-1-3-12-11-24)
8. Peru   (3-0-4-11-12-23)

Duels Played

Belgium vs France       1-4
Belgium vs Greece       2-3
Belgium vs Argentina 3-2
Belgium vs Chile          2-3
Full scores
Stream
National Carcassonne Team International Matches
Stakes: Friendly
Where: Boardgamearena
Streams: By CraftyRaf on Twitch
Details
Belgium vs Latvia 2-3

Stakes: Friendly
When: April 5th 2023
Where: Boardgamearena
Line-up:
mobidic vs Biku-Beku      2-1
AnTHology vs Alexey_LV  1-2
N2xU vs AppleG                 2-0
Defdamesdompi vs Ki_r  0-2
JinaJina vs Margots          0-2


Belgium vs Germany 3-2

Belgium vs Ukraine 0-6

Belgium vs Poland 2-5

Belgium vs Hong Kong 3-2

Belgium vs Spain 2-4

News

Belgian Championship Carcassonne 2023  (...the not online one)
Belgium has a new Live Carcassonne Champion ...and his name is Karl.
Saturday march 4th, early morning, the temperature started to rise in a school hall in Sint-Katelijne-Waver. A crowd of 84 people gathered. Not for detention this time, but for the annual Belgian Championship Carcassonne. Among these people, plenty of regular and some new faces of our online Carcassonne community showed up. We instantly know that the rising level of the last years will even be higher this year. Will defending Champion Nicolas Victor (BGA JinaJina) prolong his title? Will last years losing finalist Raf Mesotten (BGA CraftyRaf) get his revenge? Will fresh 2023 online Champion Nico Wellemans (BGA N2xU) take the double? Who will surprise and who will be left behind in the minefield that those qualifying rounds are? How many points will be needed to reach that top 16?
Concept of the tournament? 3 rounds of 4-player games will decide who's going through to the knock-out stage (Top16). There, in a 1 vs 1 game with a time limit of 15 minutes each, will be decided who will crown him- or herself the new Belgian Champion 2023.
The organizer is announcing the names of the first draw when a big 'oooooooh!' echoes through the hall. Sensation! Fate has decided that the tournament will start where it ended last year. '22 finalists Raf and Nicolas are instantly meeting each other again in the first round. Nicolas turned this high level nail biting warm-up game to his hand. Raf ended close in 2nd place. The trend was set for a tense but very enjoyable day.
After 3 rounds and at the start of the knock-out stage, 2 players are still unbeaten; 2016 Belgian Champion Wannes Vansina (BGA Carcharoth 9) and Karel Demeersseman. They will be joined by regular faces Karl Verheyden (BGA 71Knives), Nicolas Victor (BGA JinaJina), Raf Mesotten (BGA CraftyRaf), Joren DeRidder (BGA jorenderidder), Patrick De Wilde (BGA Esquire Pat) and Renaud Godfraind. But also the unfamiliar faces are not to be underestimated, such as Fabian Mouton (BGA FabianM_be), who has already proven himself to be a very solid player on the online platform of Boardgamearena.
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Karl in his last 16-game against Tim Van Den Bossche
While the last 16-round doesn't bring any surprises, the quarterfinals have some yummies for the audience. Nicolas beats Raf for the second time today after a brain breaking game and Wannes brings his clash against two time Belgian Champion Joren to a good end. Karl and Renaud also take their quarterfinal win and meet each other in the semifinal, where Karl claims his place in the final after a close win. In the other semifinal between Wannes and Nicolas, the all deciding monastery in the last tiles falls in the hands of Wannes.
The final! Will Karl finally take his first title, or will Wannes take his second? That's the question! In a tight game, Karl's adventurous style of playing takes the overhand when some risky choices pay off. The game ends with a score of 101-96 in his advantage. Congrats to our 2023 Belgian Champion Carcassonne Karl Verheyden!
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Fltr: Wannes (2nd), Karl (Champion), Nicolas (3th), Renaud (4th)
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2023 Belgian Champion Carcassonne Karl Verheyden (BGA 71Knives)
Belgian Carcassonne ONLINE Championship 2023 

​N2xU (Nico Wellemans) became the new Belgian Carcassonne Online Champion 2023 by winning against title defender JInaJina (Nicolas Victor) with 2-1 in a very close final.

You can rewatch the final here: Alexey's Carcassonne Channel - YouTube

Sponsored by
Belgian player Nicolas Victor (BGA* JinaJina) ends 13th (...or 12th)
in the World Championship Carcassonne 2022 (the live one).
The international fair Spiel in Essen, Germany, was once again the scene for the 16th Carcassonne World Championship.
34 National Champions met in 5 preliminary rounds and the 8 top ranked players faced each other in the knock-out stages.
In the first round Nicolas encountered the seasoned, and later finalist, Taiwanese player Min-Wei Chen (BGA* HotlyHotly) not an easy opponent to begin with. Min-Wei's experience took the overhand: 64-73
With his back against the wall (because you can't qualify with 2 losing games), Nicolas mastered his favorite style of playing against Bulgarian player Borislav Aymaliev (BGA* aymaliev). Meeple control and a massive ruin of 28 points led to his first win: 75-44
In the third round awaited Romanian Champion Arpad Gere (BGA* g3rappa).
In a tight game, Arpad had to bet on getting the last simple curve to be able to win the game and not face elimination. Sadly for Nicolas, the bold 50/50-move paid of on the last tile. Nicolas was eliminated for the k.o.-stages that way and Arpad would go on and even become the new World Champion Carcassonne 2022.
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The all decisive curve against Arpad
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The 28 point ruin vs Aymaliev
The last 2 games had no qualifying purpose anymore, except the personal goal of doing as well as possible. Finnish opponent Rasmus Raurala (BGA* R4muzero) for sure had the same idea and a very interesting game ended in a 77-61 win for our Belgian Champ. The last game against  Hungarian top-player Jozsef Tihon (BGA* Szigfrid) ended in a super tight 75-74 in favor of Nicolas.
Overall, Nicolas had a good tournament with 3 wins over 2 and actually only lost from the two later finalists, Min-Wei Chen (Taiwan) and new World Champion Arpad Gere (Romania).
His final 13th place was later corrected to a 12th place due to a minor calculation error on the day it self.

Full final score
Do you also want a shot at the Carcassonne World Champion title, then be sure to enter the Belgian Championship first.
Belgium reaches 6th place on the
World Championship Carcassonne for teams 2022 (online)
The online platform Boardgamearena was once more the venue for the World Team Carcassonne Online Championship (WTCOC). The Belgian team came with ambition to do better than in the 2021 edition, where they got kicked out in the group stages. Belgium, under the lead of team captain N2xU, suprised by taking the first place in a tough group with American Champion Mexico, Catalunya, Hong Kong, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
In the quarter finals, our Red Meeples met those of China. After the first 4 games it couldn't be closer, 2-2, so the 3rd and decisive battle between high ranked Chinese player mitaocat and Belgian captain N2xU would decide who would go through to the semi final. Sadly, the nailbiter ended in favor of China.
In the end, China was going to contest the final against two times World Champion Japan. There, Japan showed why they are one of the best teams in the world and took their third consecutive title home.
Played for Belgium:
*BGA-ID (M/W/L/LegBalance)
JinaJina,  obiwonder,  71Knives,  N2xU,  CraftyRaf,  Nicedicer,  mobidic,  rally8,  vanbaekel-
Nicolas Victor (BGA* JinaJina) Belgian Champion Carcassonne 2022 (the live one).
Sint-Katelijne-Waver was the venue for the by the Belgian Boardgame Federation organized Belgian Championship Carcassonne 2022.
In 3 preliminary rounds of 3/4-player games, Nicolas was the only player to remain undefeated. A trend which he continued through a 16-player, 1 vs 1, knock-out stage. In a tense final against chessmaster Raf Mesotten, experience in playing with public took the overhand and made it possible for him to be crowned Belgian Champion 2022! This means he is a double 2022 Belgian Champion after already winning the Belgian Carcassonne Online Championship (BCOC) earlier this year.
Funfact:

The top 5 were all (former) players of Team Belgium.
​
1.) Nicolas Victor (JinaJina)
2.) Raf Mesotten (CraftyRaf)
3.) Dominic Rébérez (Defdamesdompi)
4.) Joren De Ridder (jorenderidder)
5.) Bert Jacobs (rally8)
Read an interview with our new Belgian Champion on the website of 999-games.
Take a shot at the title of Belgian Champion Carcassonne yourself!

Publishers

Photo used under Creative Commons from V31S70