Dice Masters World Champion Dean Leyland Interview

How does it feel to be named 2015 World Champion in Dice Masters?

Pretty good! Very surreal. I came in hoping to simply qualify and for the city of Columbus to have a good showing because there is such a good core of players here who are all great players and better people. With not only four of us qualifying, but to bring it home to Columbus while in Columbus, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

What did you enjoy most about the competition?

Definitely the community. This game has a reputation for having an extremely friendly, easy-going user base and after playing everybody at Worlds, that reputation was understated. Everyone was so kind, friendly, generous, and most importantly, a blast to play with. As long and stressful of a weekend as it could have been, it was made so much easier because everyone kept it loose and fun.

How did you come up with your winning build and what was your main strategy?

Gobby is such an insane card with one real weakness – the need to cycle it out of the field to get the most mileage out of it. When you can combine it with Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s Global to keep the direct damage engine going as well as to discount your own purchases, just those two working in tandem can take you so, so far. Johnny Storm has always been a natural complement for Gobby, and was especially so here, and then the rest of the team was there to address the biggest threats to those three card core, as well as what I most expected to see on the other side of the table.

What were your fellow competitors like?

I really can’t say enough about everyone I played and just this community as a whole. Every game was a ton of fun, even the games that I lost. It was so easy to just shoot the breeze with anyone there, making the weekend such a blast.

What first brought you to Dice Masters and how long have you been playing it?

I’ve been playing since day one. A co-worker who I would talk board games with put it on my radar and I was hooked from the moment I opened my AvX Starter Set.

How often and where do you play Dice Masters?

There’s a group of us here in Columbus that try and get together at least once a week and I also attend as many other events as I can get to. We’re fortunate to have a pretty strong group of both players attending events and stores running events so you can find people to play with pretty regularly.

What strategy or aspect of your game play do you believe lead to your victory over the other competitors?

Oh, jeez! I had a lot of rolls and bag pulls go my way in some of my wins, which of course is the nature of a dice game, so I have to give some credit to Lady Luck. Beyond that, just patience, probably. Sometimes the best thing you can do is NOT buy something- either to keep your options open for Globals on your opponent’s turn, or to avoid cluttering your bag with dice that may come up at a time you don’t want them.

Do you plan on fighting for your title and perhaps returning next year?

Absolutely, especially if it’s back at Origins. Then I’ll be obligated to defend my home turf.

What advice would you give others trying to achieve the World Champion title?

Know what you are going to do if you go second. I’ve seen so many people put a team together but they haven’t thought about what they’re going to do if they go second and it turns out to be a huge hole in an otherwise great team on paper.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I just want to thank everyone at WizKids and all the volunteers who came out and not only kept everything running, but were extremely friendly, helpful and accommodating. You were the best and deserve all the credit in the world.