As the schoolyard rhyme goes, first is the worst — but that was literally the case during Gen Con 2023 as a Disney Villainous tournament champion was awarded the title of “The Worst.”
For this tournament, 32 players began in a round that featured the four villains found in the recently-released Introduction to Evil set (more on that in a moment). From there, however, the villains for each round were hand picked for their match-up potential. As Villainous lead designer Mike Mulvihill explained to me, the team turned to their research and insights to choose characters they felt would make for interesting and level battles. Thus, the second round saw match-ups of Hades versus Gaston while the third round pitted the Horned King against Pete. Spoiler alert: in each case, the winning villains were evenly split, suggesting that Mulvihill and company achieved their goal.
To start each round, players would engage in a quick game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, with the winner gaining the option to either pick which character they wanted or take the first turn. Each round was single elimination — so, when players lost a game, their time in the tournament came to an end. As for prizes, the top four took home special playmats (as seen above) and the two finalists will receive early copies of the upcoming Disney Villainous: Filled with Fright featuring Oogie Boogie.
Before we get to the winner, let’s talk a bit about the history of Disney Villainous. The game first launched in 2018 and has since seen several expansions released. On top of that, Marvel and Star Wars editions of Villainous have also joined the party. As for the latest installment, Introduction to Evil lives up to its name. While the set features four villains from the base edition of the game, the play was intentionally streamlined. Mulvihill explained to me that, with the initial game, they were aimed at attracting gamers who liked Disney. But, after attending D23 and speaking with other fans, they came up with Introduction to Evil as a way to reach Disney enthusiasts who may just be entering the world of tabletop gaming.
Back to the tournament, the final round saw Cruella de Vil going up against Yzma. After a hard-fought game, Yzma proved victorious. And, thus, the winner of the tournament was Andrew Maine — or Mr. Maine, as the bracket displayed. As the champion, Mr. Maine was awarded a golden cauldron along with the previous prizes.
Following this successful tournament, the teams at Ravensburger are already thinking up ideas for the future. First, with dozens of people left on the waitlist for this initial go-round, an expansion from 32 players to 64 may be in order. Elsewhere, with Marvel and Star Wars games also available, perhaps those games would also have their own tournaments.
Overall, the excitement that I’ve seen online for Disney Villainous was definitely felt at Gen Con. And, with this inaugural tournament, the passion that players have for the game was also on full display. So, while Mr. Maine will forever retain the title of first Disney Villainous tournament champion, hopefully there will be several others to follow in the years ahead.