The Road to Worlds 2013, Week 14

by James Hoskin, Director of Organized Play

4th July 2013

This is a weekly series that aims to preview upcoming Regional tournaments, review Regional tournaments that have just taken place, highlight winning decks, interview players, and more. Last week's article was The Road to Worlds 2013, Week 13.

How can you contribute to this series? First and foremost, I am relying on results and deck lists being promptly entered into this site. I can't write about them otherwise. Other ways you can help include: taking photos, interviewing players, writing previews, and providing background information. Any other way to help the community be a part of your Regional tournament would be appreciated, too. Contact details are at the end of this article.

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Week 13 Review

Saturday 29th June		Sunday 30th June
Second Edition (Standard) CVJM Kassel e.V. Wolfsschlucht 21 34117 Kassel Germany [Results]	Second Edition (Standard) OKCoyote Residence 2190 Forest Knoll Drive NE, Apt. #201 Palm Bay, FL 32905 United States [Results]	First Edition (OTF) The Pommeler's Rest 198 Tower Bridge Road London, SE1 2UN United Kingdom [Results]	Second Edition (Standard) The Prudential Center, Food Court 800 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02199 United States [Results]
Tribbles (Standard) OKCoyote Residence 2190 Forest Knoll Drive NE, Apt. #201 Palm Bay, FL 32905 United States [Results]	Second Edition (Draft) Paradox Comics-N-Cards 26 Roberts Street N Fargo, ND 58102 United States [Results]	First Edition (OTF) Sutton Shanty 514 Second Norway Lane Oliver Springs, TN 38740 United States [Results]

CVJM Kassel e.V.: This Second Edition Vandros IV Regional, acting as a warm-up for the German National Championships taking place the following day, attracted 14 players. It became the third-largest Second Edition Regional of the year, and the eleventh Second Edition Regional with a double-figure attendance. Over the course of six rounds, nobody could remain undefeated. Thorsten Wanek (JaglomShrek), playing a Next Generation deck titled "Back in Time 3.0", lasted the longest, with wins in the first four rounds. He then lost to Matthias Herath (scotttenorman), playing a Borg deck titled "Borg" in round five, leaving him tied on 17 victory points with Philipp Scholz (philimann). In the final round, Thorsten won his game and Philipp lost to Sascha Kiefer (Sascha Kiefer), playing a Relativity deck titled "Infinite Loop". That meant Thorsten won the title, his first in the Continuing Committee-era. Congratulations Thorsten! Philipp finished in second place as one of five players who had four wins and two losses. Jens Beilstein (Goran), playing an Original Series deck titled "Good Old Men", finished in third place, just ahead of Matthias and then Sascha. A number of decks have yet to be entered, but other affiliations played include Cardassian, Deep Space 9, Non-Aligned and Starfleet. Nine deck lists can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from CVJM Kassel e.V.:

Total achievements awarded	44
Most achievements won	Tobias Rausmann (garetjax) with 8
Average achievements per player	3.1
Biggest ratings gain	Thorsten Wanek (JaglomShrek), up 62 points to 1611
Average rating of all 14 players	1522

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Thorsten Wanek	Tobias Rausmann	Tobias Rausmann	Tobias Rausmann

OKCoyote Residence (Second Edition): With a last-minute relocation necessary after the air conditioner broke down shortly before the tournament was due to begin, this Cardassia Regional attracted six players. After four rounds everyone's favorite to win; Thomas Kamiura (Bosskamiura), playing a Klingon battle deck titled "TK - IF I CANT DO IT HOMIE, IT CANT BE DONE!"; lived up to expectations. He won all four games, and his opponents only managed to complete four missions in total against him. The fight for second place went down to the final game, with Daniel Matteson (OKCoyote), playing an Original Series deck titled "TOS/ALC"; and Rick Kinney (T-Ricks), playing a Dominion / Terok Nor deck titled "A Tribute to Jojo", squaring off against each other. With time running out, Daniel didn't have the 3 Geology needed to overcome Breaking the Ice at his final mission. He did have one on John Harriman though, and wanted to use his ability on himself twice to gain the other two. After a discussion involving four players, he was allowed to do just that. Apparently, everyone was so focused on whether John Harriman's ability could be used on himself, nobody spotted that the ability has a "when" trigger and could only be used once per dilemma. Daniel's win meant he took second place, and Rick was third. Other affiliations played include Klingon, Relativity and Terok Nor. All six deck lists and three tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from OKCoyote Residence:

Total achievements awarded	11
Most achievements won	Thomas Kamiura (Bosskamiura) with 5
Average achievements per player	1.8
Biggest ratings gain	Daniel Matteson (OKCoyote), up 32 points to 1653
Average rating of all 6 players	1576

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Thomas Kamiura	Thomas Kamiura	Thomas Kamiura	Thomas Kamiura

OKCoyote Residence (Tribbles): The second half of the final double header of the year also saw six players participate, even though two had departed after the Second Edition Regional, two more players popped up to fill their spots. With an average score of 440,891 Tribbles per player, this was one of the highest scoring Regionals of the year. Tammy Vititoe (tamtoe), playing a Poison deck titled "Something You Ate My Pretty One???", scored 923,247 Tribbles to win her first Regional title ever. Congratulations Tammy! Thomas Kamiura (Bosskamiura) couldn't quite make it back-to-back wins, but the 646,801 Tribbles he scored earned him second place; while Sean O'Reilly (Jono), playing a Go deck titled "2013 Regional variety of powers deck", took third place. Other powers played include Discard and Poison. Four deck lists can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from OKCoyote Residence:

Total achievements awarded	8
Most achievements won	Avery Matteson (averybean) with 4
Average achievements per player	1.3
Total Tribbles scored	2,645,343
Average Tribbles scored by all 6 players	440,891

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Tammy Vititoe	Tammy Vititoe	Daniel Matteson	Daniel Matteson

Paradox Comics-N-Cards: This Second Edition "all-sets-included" Rainbow draft attracted six players in Fargo, North Dakota of the Andoria Region. In a tournament where every card drafted could play and mix together, the key card looked to be the 1 span Mouth of the Wormhole headquarters mission. Jeremy Benedict (flrazor) found one in his Reflections 2.0 pack (forgoing some great personnel and dilemmas), and put it to good use in his deck. He was undefeated over four rounds, and won the title. This was only Jeremy's second sanctioned tournament win in the Continuing Committee-era, and both have been sealed Regionals. Nat Kirton (Nate Jeezy) took second place having only lost the one game to Matthew Hayes (karonofborg13); who ended up in third place with his deck, which also used Mouth of the Wormhole as a headquarters. Three deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from Paradox Comics-N-Cards:

Total achievements awarded	9
Most achievements won	Jeremy Benedict (flrazor) with 5
Average achievements per player	1.5
Biggest ratings gain	Jeremy Benedict (flrazor), up 61 points to 1696
Average rating of all 6 players	1656

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Jeremy Benedict	Nat Kirton	Mike Harrington	Nat Kirton

The Pommeler's Rest: This Omarion Nebula Regional became the joint-highest attended First Edition Regional this year, with 10 players from four countries - Belgium, England, Scotland and the United States - participating. Some might even argue that with a player from the North of England there were five countries represented! After three of the four rounds, two players were undefeated: Danny Nuttall (nuttersuclan), playing a Bajoran deck titled "Refuse, Resist."; and William Hoskin (Gumbo), playing a Romulan deck titled "Romulan Regional Riot". They faced each other in round four, but it sounds like the game was almost over after two turns. With Will not accepting Danny's generous offer of a take back so that he could download General Quarters on turn one, Danny downloaded five personnel into play and attempted his first mission there and then. He then solved that mission and cleared out the dilemmas from another mission on his second turn to take a massive advantage. Will couldn't recover, and Danny won the title. Not only was this Danny's second Regional title of the year, it was the eleventh tournament he has won in a row this year. That's a great feat, especially when you consider that he forgot to bring one mission, one seed card and his entire dilemma pile to the tournament! Sickening isn't it? James Hoskin (RedDwarf), playing an achievement-laden Federation deck titled "My First TNG Federation", finished in third place; just ahead of Stuart Marsh (SAM2000), playing a Cardassian deck titled "Cardasian Law!", in fourth. Other affiliations played include Dominion, Federation (twice) Ferengi, Kazon and Klingon. Eight deck lists and four tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page, and an interview with Danny Nuttall is below.

Statistics from The Pommeler's Rest:

Total achievements awarded	30
Most achievements won	James Hoskin (RedDwarf) with 10
Average achievements per player	3.0
Biggest ratings gain	William Hoskin (Gumbo), up 49 points to 1510
Average rating of all 10 players	1524

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Danny Nuttall	Danny Nuttall	Danny Nuttall	Niall Matthew

The Prudential Center, Food Court: Five players turned out for this four round Second Edition Romulus Regional. After three rounds, two players were in with a chance of taking the title: Lucas Thompson (edgeofhearing), playing a Non-Aligned Thief deck titled "My Kind of People"; and Steve C (Kor), playing a Next Generation deck titled "Well.. it's a hell of a forgery!". Both players had ten victory points after the round two game between them ended in a 70-70 true tie. In the final round, Steve could only manage a modified win, so a full win for Lucas would see him take the title. He did just that, to take his first Regional title in the Continuing committee-era. Congratulations Lucas! Steve's modified win left him in second place, ahead of Bob Geis (microhylidae), playing a Cardassian / Original Series deck titled "Mirror TOS", in third place. Other affiliations played include Dominion and Earth Space 9. All five deck lists and two tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from The Prudential Center, Food Court:

Total achievements awarded	15
Most achievements won	Lucas Thompson (edgeofhearing) and Steve C (Kor), with 5 each
Average achievements per player	3.0
Biggest ratings gain	Steve C (Kor), up 33 points to 1621
Average rating of all 5 players	1557

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Lucas Thompson	Len Neidorf	Len Neidorf	Len Neidorf

Sutton Shanty: The final Regional of the year took place in the Qo'noS Region. It was a First Edition tournament, and attracted six players for three rounds of action. Ferengi were the affiliation of the day, as they ended up in the top two spots. Ryan Sutton (rsutton41), playing a Ferengi deck titled "Ferengi - The WAY they are supposed to be!", was undefeated and won the tournament; and Nathan Miracle (GooeyChewie) took second place with his Ferengi deck titled "Mama Tried", having only lost to Ryan. Ryan has now played in three Continuing Committee-sanctioned Regionals, and he has won all three. His rating, currently at 1736, now ranks him as the #7 best player in the world. Jeremy Norris (Arcanthas), playing a Hirogen deck titled "Hirogen Qo'nos Regional" took third place having recovered from a loss to Nathan in round one to win his remaining two games. Other affiliations played include Federation, Klingon and Romulan. Three deck lists can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from Sutton Shanty:

Total achievements awarded	6
Most achievements won	Nathan Miracle (GooeyChewie) with 3
Average achievements per player	1.0
Biggest ratings gain	Ryan Sutton (rsutton41), up 23 points to 1736
Average rating of all 6 players	1535

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Ryan Sutton	Ryan Sutton	Scott Baughman	Ryan Sutton

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Interview

This week, Danny Nuttall (nuttersuclan); the #2 ranked First Edition player in the world, winner of two Regionals this year, two-time United Kingdom National Champion, and on a streak of eleven straight tournament wins; sits down to talk molestation, cobbling, and intolerance.

James: Congratulations on your win Danny. Going back to the beginning, which decks were you considering playing?
Danny: Everything! With five days to go I had no idea. I'd not built anything new or playtested, so I played a few games with TNG Federation, TNG Ferengi, TNG Klingon and DS9 Ferengi too. I think I lost every game and I hated all of them. Thankfully, I got utterly molested by Jon Carter, playing Bajoran...

James: What decks did you expect to face?
Danny: TNG, TNG, TNG and some more TNG. Oh, and a Stuart Marsh battle special. This year, it happened to be the case that Stuart was playing a TNG battle special.

James: When you realised that you were missing one mission, one seed card, and your entire dilemma pile; what thoughts went through your mind?
Danny: Oh you stupid @#!!*?% *@#%. I couldn't believe I'd done that! Thankfully the American guys had their own decks so I could use some of the dilemmas from the eight (successfully built) decks I had with me. They weren't optimum, but they were solid (if predictable). Before then event began, I didn't feel good about my prospects. I was unprepared, off form, hadn't played much in recent months and Niall was very confident about his deck too, so this was another unwelcome hurdle!

James: What was it about your Bajoran deck that made you want to cannibalise your other decks to fill the gaps, instead of just using one of those other decks?
Danny: Actually, I almost switched to the TNG Federation deck. It was a really close call. I've played that deck three times before and won all three tournaments, but I'm glad I persevered and played something new.

James: Can you describe how your deck works?
Danny: Easily; play people for free, attempt very early (sometimes even on turn one), find out where Dead End is and then solve the Bajor Region missions accordingly. It's not the kind of deck I normally play as I tend to avoid straight solvers because I like to disrupt people, even if it is only a little bit, but this deck is all about pace.

James: Are there any special tricks or combos in the deck?
Danny: Not especially. There's some good dilemma cheating through Guinan, Bones and special downloads. Some of the dilemmas 'combo' well with the deck type. For instance, there's great synergy between a deck that has three missions from the same region and Female's Love Interest & Garbage Scow. That's about it though!

James: What was your dilemma strategy?
Danny: Cobble together combos from other decks. If I had actually remembered my dilemma pile (which I see in front of me now on the desk!) the intention was to create combos that looked familiar to regular players, but ended in an unusual way. Throw people off as often as you can in First Edition, it's the best way to make effective dilemma piles.

James: How did the tournament play out, from your perspective?
Danny: I was on my toes in each game, that's for sure. I wasn't experienced with my deck at all, so I was very cautious about risking too many personnel who had a particular skill when attempting missions - usually Science.

James: Who was your toughest opponent?
Danny: Jurgen's dilemmas held me up lots and he made me attempt four missions overall, which I didn't appreciate! As usual though, Niall was my toughest opponent. He was throwing out Klingons left, right and center, and his game has improved immensely over the last twelve months. Thankfully, I made some inspired choices to build on a solid opening hand.

James: Now the tournament is over, how would you improve the deck? (besides playing it with the correct dilemmas...)
Danny: Yes, the correct build would have been nice! It's a tough one to improve actually. There's very little room for maneuver as the percentages need to be spot on for drawing a Resistance personnel in your opening hand, in order to get the Espionage downloads going right away. An Outpost and mission specialists might be good. There's a lot of point-loss dilemmas out there right now and the Arsenal cards are popular again, so two additional universal bodies may help here.

James: That makes it eleven straight tournament wins in a row this year. Are you hopeful of continuing this run through to the World Championships in October?
Danny: Of course! I joked at the start of the year that I hope this run continues to November and then I'll happily lose every match for the rest of the year! Well, we're in July now and it's still going! Having said that, I haven't played Seppel, Andreas or Ken much in 2013. All three of those guys play at 'the next level' and are far better than me, so I am well aware that Frankfurt will be my toughest challenge to date...but with this streak, who knows?!

James: If you could create an achievement, what would it be?
Danny: The [name redacted] Intolerance Award for playing a deck with at least five "does not work with..." personnel.

James: Do you have anything else to add?
Danny: Feel free to redact the name from the achievement idea!

Special thanks to Danny for answering these questions.

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Byes

This week, two players won a Day One, Round One bye into their local First Edition Continental Championships:

• William Hoskin (Gumbo), second place (bye handed down) at The Pommeler's Rest
• Nathan Miracle (GooeyChewie), second place (bye handed down) at Sutton Shanty

And, five players won a Day One, Round One bye into their local Second Edition Continental Championships:

• Thorsten Wanek (JaglomShrek), winner at CVJM Kassel e.V.
• Philipp Scholz (philimann), second place at CVJM Kassel e.V.
• Daniel Matteson (OKCoyote), second place (bye handed down) at OKCoyote Residence
• Jeremy Benedict (flrazor), winner at Paradox Comics-N-Cards
• Bob Geis (microhylidae), third place (bye handed down) at The Prudential Center, Food Court

And, one player won a 100,000 Tribble Headstart into their local Tribbles Continental Championships:

• Tammy Vititoe (tamtoe), winner at OKCoyote Residence

These bye winners have been added to the list of current bye winners for the Continental Championships and the World Championships here. With two byes awarded at the German National Championships and two more at the Australian National Championships, the list of bye winners is now complete. A total of 35 byes have been awarded to the First Edition Continental Championships. 67 byes have been awarded to the Second Edition Continental Championships, and 33 headstarts have been awarded to the Tribbles Continental Championships.

This year, the Continuing Committee have given out 135 byes (last year:129) to the three Continental Championships. A total of 102 (last year:98) different players have earned a bye in one or more of the three games we support. Three players - William Hoskin (Gumbo), Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser) and Kris Sonsteby (LORE) - have earned byes in all three games.

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The Road to Worlds 2013, Week 14 continues in part II.

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