The Road to Worlds, North American Continental Championships Preview

by James Hoskin, Director of Organized Play

4th August 2010

There is just one Continental Championships of the year to go before the World Championships. You can read about the Australian Continental Championships, and the  European Continental Championships in their respective Road to Worlds reviews. Now it is time preview the North American Continental Championships being held this weekend.

All events are taking place at GenCon Indianapolis. Please visit the GenCon website for badge and ticket information, and much, much more.

The full address for all events is:
GenCon - Indianapolis
Indiana Convention Center
100 South Capitol Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46225
United States

	Thursday 5th August	Friday 6th August	Saturday 7th August	Sunday 8th August
9am		North American Continental Championships (Day One, Heat One) Second Edition (Standard) [Pre-register]	North American Continental Championships (Day Two) Second Edition (Standard)
10am	Learn to Play Second Edition Virtual Constructed Tournament Second Edition (Virtual) [Pre-register]	Learn to Play Second Edition		Revised Constructed Tournament First Edition (Revised) [Pre-register] Standard Orbit Second Edition (Standard) [Pre-register]
11am	Learn to Play First Edition	Learn to Play First Edition
12pm	Learn to Play Second Edition OTSD+ Tournament First Edition (Sealed) [Pre-register]	Learn to Play Second Edition	OTSD+ Tournament First Edition (Sealed) [Pre-register]	North American Continental Championships Tribbles [Pre-register]
1pm	Learn to Play First Edition	Learn to Play First Edition	Infinite Diversity Draft Second Edition (Draft) [Pre-register]
2pm	Learn to Play Second Edition Team Tournament Second Edition (Standard) [Pre-register]	Learn to Play Second Edition
3pm	Learn to Play First Edition	Learn to Play First Edition
4pm	Learn to Play Second Edition The Cool Tournament First Edition (Open) [Pre-register]	Learn to Play Second Edition OTSD+ Tournament First Edition (Sealed) [Pre-register] North American Continental Championships (Day One, Heat Two) Second Edition (Standard) [Pre-register]	North American Continental Championships First Edition (OTF) [Pre-register]
5pm	Learn to Play First Edition	Learn to Play First Edition Infinite Diversity Draft Second Edition (Draft) [Pre-register]	Infinite Diversity Draft Second Edition (Draft) [Pre-register]
6pm	Infinite Diversity Draft Second Edition (Draft) [Pre-register]

For descriptions of specific events, please see the original announcement article. The discussion thread is the place to ask questions. Next up is photos of the Learn to Play materials and some of the prizes:

42 Virtual Starters Sleeved & Ready	Six Cases of OTSDs	First Edition Prizes	Second Edition Prizes	Tolian Soran Participation Promo
(click to enlarge. More photos in MidnightLich's album)

All that remains is to preview some of the top-ranked players that have pre-registered and those that my select band of infiltrators have informed me are attending:

John Corbett (KillerB). Overall rating: 1826. World rank: 7.
John is part of the very competitive group that plays in Claymont, Delaware. He has won 28 of the 70 tournaments he has played in the Continuing Committee era, with a 73% winning record in the 258 games he has played. He won the North American Continental Championships in 2003 and 2008, but did not participate last year. The two affiliations he has played the most this year are Borg and Deep Space 9. His most recent deck was Starfleet. John has a Day One Round One bye for the Continental Championships, which won at a Romulus Regional (where he placed third).

Ben Hosp (bhosp). Overall rating: 1811. World rank: 8.
Ben also plays in Claymont, Delaware, but has only played in two tournaments since last year's World Championships. He has won 16 of the 52 tournaments he has played in the Continuing Committee era, with a 68% winning record in the 191 games he has played. He was a semi-finalist at the 2008 North American Continental Championships, and did not participate last year. The only affiliation he has played this year is Klingon. Ben has a Day One Round One bye for the Continental Championships, as he was a finalist at the 2009 World Championships.

Jared Hoffman (Mugato). Overall rating: 1800. World rank: 10.
Jared plays in Columbus, Ohio. He hasn't played much, but has won five of the 13 tournaments he has played in the Continuing Committee era, with an impressive 81% winning record in the 53 games he has played. He has not participated in the last two North American Continental Championships; but, in 2008, he won a Chairman's Challenge and was a semi-finalist at the World Championships. In 2009, he was runner-up at the American Nationals (East). The three affiliations he has played this year are Borg, Klingon / Deep Space 9 and Equinox. Jared has a Day One Round One bye for the Continental Championships, earned at the American Nationals (East) (where he placed second).

Kris Sonsteby (LORE). Overall rating: 1703. World rank: 23.
Kris plays in the ultra-competitive state of many former World Champions... Minnesota. He has won 7 of the 27 tournaments he has played in the Continuing Committee era, with a 67% winning record in the 114 games he has played. He did not participate in the 2008 North American Continental Championships, but was a semi-finalist last year. The affiliations he has played the most this year are Next Generation followed by a tie between Borg, Cardassian and Klingon. His most recent deck was Next Generation. Kris has a Day One Round One bye for the Continental Championships, after winning a Deep Space 9 Regional.

James Hoskin (RedDwarf). Overall rating: 1683. World rank: 27.
James plays in London, England. He has won 13 of the 42 tournaments he has played in the Continuing Committee era, with a 66% winning record in the 146 games he has played. He didn't play in the last two North American Continental Championships, but was a finalist in 2007. The two affiliations he has played the most this year are Starfleet and Klingon. His most recent deck was Klingon / Romulan (in an Infinite Diversity draft). James does not have a Day One Round One bye for the North American Continental Championships because he plays in a different continent.

Michael van Breemen (The Ninja Scot). Overall rating: 1661. World rank: 34.
Michael has played in a lot of different locations this year (including five Regional championships and both American National championships), but his local playgroup appears to be in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He has won 6 of the 45 tournaments he has played in the Continuing Committee era, with a 53% winning record in the 165 games he has played. He did not play in the 2008 North American Continental Championships, and didn't qualify for Day Two in 2009. The affiliations he has played the most this year are Cardassian, Romulan and Next Generation (including some triple-headquarters shenanigans). His most recent deck was Cardassian / Dominion. Michael has a Day One Round One bye for the Continental Championships, after winning a Deep Space 9 Regional.

Nat Kirton (Nate Jeezy). Overall rating: 1647. World rank: 38.
Nat plays in Woodbury, Minnesota (the state of many former World Champions). He has only won 3 of the 30 tournaments he has played in the Continuing Committee era, but has a 63% winning record in the 125 games he has played. He did not participate in the 2008 North American Continental Championships, but was a semi-finalist last year. The two affiliations he has played the most this year are Romulan and Voyager/Equinox. His most recent deck was Romulan. Nat has a Day One Round One bye for the Continental Championships, after winning a Deep Space 9 Regional.

Greg Hodgin (tomalak). Overall rating: 1641. World rank: 41.
Greg has only played in one local tournament in Forest City, North Carolina; most of his tournaments have been at DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia. He has not won any of the six tournaments he has played in the Continuing Committee era, but he took second place in five of them (and third place in the other). He has a 70% winning record in the 23 games he has played, and has not participated in the last two North American Continental Championships. The only affiliation he has played this year is Romulan. Greg has a Day One Round One bye for the Continental Championships, earned at a Sector 001 Regional )where he placed second).

Darrell Minott (Big Borg). Overall rating: 1626. World rank: 47.
Darrell is also part of the very competitive group that plays in Claymont, Delaware. He has only won 1 of the 52 tournaments he has played in the Continuing Committee era, but that is hardly surprising given that he regularly faces heavyweights Neil Timmons (ntimmons) and John Corbett (KillerB). He has a 41% winning record in the 182 games he has played. He did not participate in the last two North American Continental Championships, but was a quarter-finalist at the World Championships last year. The affiliation he has played the most this year (at seven of the twelve tournaments he participated in) is Klingon. Darrell does not have a Day One Round One bye for the Continental Championships.

Jeremy Benedict (flrazor). Overall rating: 1619. World rank: 54.
Jeremy runs his tournaments in Falcon Heights, Minnesota (the home state of many former World Champions, don't ya know?) He has won 2 of the 27 tournaments he has played in the Continuing Committee era, with a 50% winning record in the 115 games he has played. He did not play in the 2008 North American Continental Championships, and didn't qualify for Day Two in 2009. The two affiliations he has played the most this year are Starfleet and Romulan. His most recent deck was Starfleet. Jeremy has a Day One Round One bye for the Continental Championships, after winning a Deep Space 9 Regional.

Other Second Edition players pre-registered include: Brian Sykes (Armus), William Hoskin (Gumbo), David Kuck (ikeya) and Amber Mitchell (Marquetry). There are currently no players pre-registered for the First Edition Continental Championships or the Tribbles Continental Championships.

Next Week

A review of the action, and the possibility of a tournament report or two ten, from this weekend's North American Continental Championships.

Have an opinion about this article?  Post it here, or contact the author!

-djl-

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