From the L5R Discord:
The Itsy Bitsy Spider - 02/20/2019
The prize for the last L5R Gencon was an empty black scroll, capable of being used on anyone and either sealing them entirely or drastically weakening them. A bounty of 1000$ was accumulated for someone to use the Black Scroll to sap Yoritomo of his divinity. A Mantis player won gencon, but on his way to gencon had his car break down, so he saw the 1000$ and used it to pay for his car repairs.
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The following text is taken from the Kolat Informer.
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The finals were between Issac Cynova (Mantis w/ Shika Sensei) vs. James Matthews (Phoenix). Both players knew each other and their friendly and humorous banter between the two during the Finals made it very funny to watch. The Banter between the two made it seem like the game was between friends and not for the World Championship.
Issac Cynova is the first player to win the World Championship piloting the Mantis clan and only the 2nd Mantis player to make the finals of WC with the boys in green.
Issac chose to have Yoritomo Ichido to find the 13th Black Scroll and used it to consume some of Yoritomo’s power.
I know a lot of Mantis players who were upset with the $1500 bounty that was spearheaded by Steve Martino. I never expected a Mantis player to take the bounty. However, Issac had some massive car problems on the way to Gen*Con and he had no choice but to take the choice since he was in desperate need of the money.