The Road to Worlds 2011, Week 12

by James Hoskin, Director of Organized Play

16th June 2011

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 2011, Week 11.

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.

Week 11 Review

Saturday 11th June		Sunday 12th June
		First Edition (Sealed) Pizza Italia 34765 Ardenwood Boulevard Fremont, CA 94555-3654 United States [Results]	Tribbles (Standard) Pizza Italia 34765 Ardenwood Boulevard Fremont, CA 94555-3654 United States [Results]
		Second Edition (Standard) Morning Star Lodge 1 Ionic Avenue Worcester, MA 01608 United States [Pre-register]	Second Edition (Standard) Kaiserpalast Pressather Straße 113 92637 Weiden Germany [Results]

Pizza Italia [1E]: This Southern California Regional in the Risa Region attracted nine players for three rounds of sealed deck action. After two rounds, three players were undefeated and had a chance of winning the title. David Holtmann (OorylQrygg) and Rich Joakimson (Outsider), who were facing each other, tied their game. That meant that Herman Chan (ClonedWhyMe), the other undefeated player, would win the title if he could win his final game. Unfortunately for him, he lost it and ended up in fifth place. Rich's strength of schedule was greater than David's, and he won his first ever Regional Championship title. Congratulations Rich! My pick to win, Jeremy Commandeur (Commandeur) didn't play. Unfortunately, the tournament results page does not contain any deck lists or tournament reports yet.

Statistics from Pizza Italia:

Total achievements awarded	1
Most achievements won	Herman Chan (ClonedWhyMe), with 1
Average achievements per player	0.1
Biggest ratings gain	Rich Joakimson (Outsider), up 27 points to 1514
Average rating of all 9 players	1501

Pizza Italia [Tr]: Six of the nine players that participated in the First Edition Regional stuck around to breed Tribbles. David Holtmann (OorylQrygg) made up for narrowly missing out on the First Edition Regional Championship by winning this Tribbles Regional Championship instead. David scored 393,431 Tribbles, and was more than 50% ahead of his nearest rival, Stephen Lee (grendelX), who scored 234,764 Tribbles. My pick to win, Jeremy Commandeur (Commandeur), took third place with 194,354 Tribbles. Unfortunately, the tournament results page does not contain any deck lists or tournament reports yet.

Statistics from Pizza Italia:

Total achievements awarded	3
Most achievements won	David Holtmann (OorylQrygg), with 2
Average achievements per player	0.5
Total Tribbles Scored	955,785
Average Tribbles scored by all 6 players	159,298

Morning Star Lodge: Twelve players took part in this Romulus Regional, the inaugural Regional Championship to be held in the state of Massachusetts. Ten of the players had never played in a Regional Championships before, and six of the players had four or fewer Continuing Committee era tournaments under their belt when the day began. Unsurprisingly, John Corbett (KillerB), who had played more games than all of his competitors combined, was victorious. It wasn't as easy as you might expect for the player I picked to win though. While John, playing a Klingon deck titled "The Roethlisberger" was undefeated, he could only manage modifed wins in his last two games. Chris O'Connell (Brak_), playing a Next Generation deck titled "Something Borrowed, Something Blue", finished close behind John, having achieved full wins in four of his games (his fifth being a loss to John.) Amanda Thompson (Andraia), playing a Cardassian deck titled "Taking a break from Bajor", finished in third place. While a couple of affiliations played have yet to entered, the results show that Cardassian, Ferengi, Klingon, Romulan, Next Generation, Original Series and Voyager/Equinox were all represented. Eight deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page, and an interview with the winner, John Corbett, is below.

Statistics from Morning Star Lodge:

Total achievements awarded	16
Most achievements won	Bob Geis (microhylidae) and Cayenne Boyer (cayenne), with 4 each
Average achievements per player	1.3
Biggest ratings gain	Chris O'Connell (Brak_), up 72 points to 1539
Average rating of all 12 players	1524

Kaiserpalast: This Second Edition Regional was hastily rearranged for Sunday after illness meant the tournament scheduled one week earlier had to be cancelled. Happily, all four players were healthy this time. Two weeks ago, I predicted that Tobias Rausmann (garetjax) would beat Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser) to the title because "Tobias has beaten Johannes five of the six times they have played previously." Unfortunately for me, the deciding game between these two players went the other way. Johannes, playing a Klingon deck titled "Klingon Highway Patrol", had the perfect match-up against Tobias, who was playing a Voyager deck titled "Voyager Thomas Style." Once Johannes had used Kruge to capture Tobias' four remaining personnel and take command of Voyager, it was game over. This is the fourth Regional Championship Johannes has won this year, and his rating has now risen to 1906 - the highest it has been in the Continuing Committee era. Congratulations Johannes! Three deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from Kaiserpalast:

Total achievements awarded	4
Most achievements won	Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser), with 3
Average achievements per player	1.0
Biggest ratings gain	Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser), up 18 points to 1906
Average rating of all 4 players	1647

Interview

This week, John Corbett (KillerB), who needs no introduction, steps through the smoke into the spotlight.

James: Congratulations on your win John. In preparation for the tournament, what decks were you considering?
John: I played Earth (Home of Starfleet Command) at the last two Regionals, so I was taking a break from that. I considered building a Donatra / Assess Contamination deck, but everyone is doing that, and that's not how I roll. I had this Klingon deck already built for two months, but with Mara. Since the errata I decided to switch to Klingon Diplomacy and K'Tal. Combine absurd downloads, Surprise Party, and a sick dilemma pile and the deck is out of control.

James: What decks did you expect to face?
John: There has never been any "main-event" players in New England. That's not a knock on them, they have a few solid players; but most are casual players, so I didn't give any thought to it. Plus, I never really sit around worried about what certain decks I might face. I'm more concerned with making sure my deck doesn't fail. Sure, I factor in some things. I usually ask myself one question, "What are people going to try to abuse?"

James: You've played Terok Nor twice and Earth Space 9 twice at previous Regionals this year. Did you feel they were not good enough this time around?
John: Not at all. I don't even like playing things two times in a row. I can't ever recall playing something three times in row. Maybe Next Generation Holograms back in the day. I remember Charlie Plaine (MidnightLich) saying once at Worlds, "I know this deck by heart now, I shouldn't even look at the deck list." I'm glad you don't have to play Blue anymore in Tier-1, that was getting boring.

James: Why did you play Klingon?
John: Neil abused K'Tal the week before in the Richmond Regional. I just wanted to prove to Design that he needs errata. He should, at least, be "once each turn".

James: Did you have any tricks in the deck or with the dilemmas?
John: Sublimal Signal plus Vacation from the Continuum plus 3 cost damage dilemmas equals lots of blown up ships. If the dilemma pile didn't finish them off, Kruge and the boys would come finish them off. Even worse, I once used the ability on the I.K.S. Ning'tao. That's just rude.

James: What were your plans to deal with Tragic Turn, Legacy, Borg, Capture, Cadets & Klingon battle?
John: With the errata to Tragic Turn I really wasn't expecting to see it. Even without it, giving this field of players, I wouldn't have. The deck had two copies of Ohhhh! Nothing Happened! (Also a Q card to use with Vacation from the Continuum) just in case you run into a "gimmick" pile. Cadets... I never fear cadets. I don't know why people do. I also had Mediate Peace Treaty in case I ran into Borg or another Klingon Battle deck. My deck running Mediate Peace Treaty is one of the most hypocritical things I've ever seen a Second Edition deck do.

James: How was the tournament for you?
John: The tournament was fine. The four hour drive each way was the crappy part.

James: Who was your toughest opponent?
John: Since they are mostly casual players up there, they play sloooow. A lot of competitive players get upset when dealing with slow players (It's the number one complaint I hear as a tournament director), but I never do. It's just something you have to deal with. I tell people, if someone is playing at their own pace and not doing it intentionally for an advantage then stop whining and win faster.

I got two timed wins in the last two rounds. Those games were closer than I would've liked. Against the Ferengi deck, played by Lucas Thompson (edgeofhearing), he even got a chance, after time was called, to attempt clean "for the win." He had Reyga out. Lucky for me, he had to lose a Rule from under Ferenginar on my turn with Opportunity Seized (first time I ever saw anyone use it, I didn't even know what it did) to prevent Bridge Officer's Test and me winning the game. That meant he was only able to use Reyga on one dilemma, and I was able to stop him.

James: What was your favourite moment of the day?
John: The $20 entry fee was steep, but we had a great set up. We had the whole place to ourselves, plenty of space. We even had a lounge with a couch. Somebody brought Deep Space 9 on DVD, good idea. But then played a couple episodes of season one, bad idea. Then we watched Way of the Warrior, good idea. But then that future Jake Sisko episode, bad idea. Chris gets props for putting on an excellent event. I got an awesome Klingon Bird-of-Prey statue for winning. That was fitting considering the deck I played.

James: Now that the tournament is over, how would you improve your deck?
John: The deck is 80 cards. I would like to cut that number down a bit. I hate playing big decks. That's not Jersey-style. We're a culture of speed out here, at least we used to be. However, this is the world we live in now. A world of "mid game interactions". Some people, I won't say where, complain about winning like that, but I'm not one of them. Good players adapt. People kept pointing out, which I wasn't aware of until then, that I hadn't won a Regional in a couple years. Well, I can play cut-throat if I have too. I didn't need to win a Regional like this, for ego or anything. I guess they needed to be reminded of why I am THE GAME.

James: If you had to face your deck in a tournament, how would you play to beat it?
John: Hope I played Mediate Peace Treaty. If not, then go planet first and try to keep as many people alive as possible. If that doesn't work, get ready to spend eternity in Sto-Vo-Kor.

James: With Worlds less than two months away, who do you think are your rivals to the title?
John: Rivals? I'm the Last Outlaw of Trek. The only person who been around as long as me is Jared Hoffman (Mugato). I hate ever having to give credit to my nemesis, but at least he still brings the goods every year. All these guys who claim to be "old school", but never go to Worlds, are just washed up has-beens. The only rival I truly have is destiny. I've averaged Top four at Worlds for a decade now. It's going to happen. One man can summon the future.

James: Do you have anything else to add?
John: Yeah, I am displeased at you (Ed - not the actual phrase used) for not picking me for the previous Regionals I played in. Then you pick me for this one? Way to go out on a limb there tough guy. How many times do I have to knock you out of the bracket at Worlds before you respect my kung-fu? I'm just kidding, I love your silly British ass. I'll buy you a beer at GenCon.

If I make the Final at Worlds this year, expect big things. I'm taking the "Origins Incident" to a whole new level. Fire up the fog machine...

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions John.

Byes

This week, one player won a Day One, Round One bye into the First Edition Continental Championships:

• Rich Joakimson (Outsider), winner at Pizza Italia

Three players won a Day One, Round One bye into the Second Edition Continental Championships:

• Chris O'Connell (Brak_), second place at Morning Star Lodge
• Amanda Thompson (Andraia), third place (bye handed down) at Morning Star Lodge
• Markus Eberlein (eberlems), third place (bye handed down) at Kaiserpalast

And, one player won a 100,000 Tribbles Headstart into the Tribbles Continental Championships:

• David Holtmann (OorylQrygg), winner at Pizza Italia

Congratulations to all players, and I wish better luck to anyone who didn't make it this time. These bye winners have been added to the list of current bye winners for the Continental Championships and the World Championships here.

Deck Statistics

There were nine First Edition players at one tournament this week, taking the total players at First Edition Regional Championships to 92 - an average of 7.1 players per tournament. This week's tournament was sealed. One-third of all First Edition Regional Championship participants have now played sealed, while the other two-thirds have played constructed.

The most popular First Edition affiliations are currently:
1.	Unknown Affiliations	Used by 21 (23%) players	3 Regional wins
2.	Federation	Used by 16 (17%) players	2 Regional wins
3.	Multiple Affiliations	Used by 15 (16%) players	3 Regional wins
4.	Ferengi	Used by 9 (10%) players	1 Regional win
5.	Klingon	Used by 5 (5%) players
5.	Romulan	Used by 5 (5%) players
7.	Cardassian	Used by 4 (4%) players	1 Regional win
8.	Bajoran	Used by 3 (3%) players	1 Regional win
8.	Borg	Used by 3 (3%) players
8.	Non-Aligned	Used by 3 (3%) players	1 Regional win
8.	Starfleet	Used by 3 (3%) players	1 Regional win
12.	Hirogen	Used by 2 (2%) players
12.	Terran Empire	Used by 2 (2%) players
14.	Vidiian	Used by 1 (1%) player

There were 16 Second Edition players at two tournaments this week, taking the total players at Second Edition Regional Championships to 254 - an average of 9.1 players per tournament. Two Klingon wins this week help Klingon leapfrog Borg as the most successful affiliation. Earth (Home of Starfleet Command) decks are still averaging 13.9 victory points per player so far. Terok Nor and Starfleet decks are averaging between 12.4 and 12.8 victory points per player. Original Series, Deep Space 9, Voyager/Equinox, Cardassian, Romulan , Klingon and Borg decks are all averaging between 11.0 and 11.5 victory points per player. Next Generation averages 10.4 victory points per player. Non-Aligned, Dominion, Ferengi, Maquis and Bajoran are the worst performing affiliations, averaging between 9.0 and 9.8 victory points per player.

The most popular Second Edition affiliations are currently:
1.	Klingon	Used by 32 (13%) players	6 Regional wins
2.	Romulan	Used by 23 (9%) players	2 Regional wins
2.	Multiple Affiliations	Used by 23 (9%) players	2 Regional wins
4.	Borg	Used by 21 (8%) players	5 Regional wins
4.	Original Series	Used by 21 (8%) players	4 Regional wins
6.	Next Generation	Used by 20 (8%) players	1 Regional win
7.	Starfleet	Used by 17 (7%) players
8.	Cardassian	Used by 16 (6%) players	1 Regional win
9.	Voyager/Equinox	Used by 15 (6%) players	3 Regional wins
10.	Deep Space 9	Used by 10 (4%) players	2 Regional wins
10.	Earth (Home of Starfleet Command)	Used by 10 (4%) players	1 Regional win
10.	Unknown Affiliations	Used by 10 (4%) players
13.	Dominion	Used by 8 (3%) players
13.	Terok Nor	Used by 8 (3%) players
15.	Ferengi	Used by 7 (3%) players	1 Regional win
16.	Bajoran	Used by 5 (2%) players
16.	Maquis	Used by 5 (2%) players
18.	Non-Aligned	Used by 3 (1%) players

There were six Tribbles players at one tournament this week, taking the total players at Tribbles Regional Championships to 35 - an average of 7.0 players per tournament. A total of 10,043,616 Tribbles have been scored to date - an average of 286,960 Tribbles per player.

Week 12 Preview

The complete schedule can be found in the article Regional Championships Series 2011 Schedule. There are five Regional tournaments this week:

Saturday 18th June		Sunday 19th June
Second Edition (Standard) Wizards Comics and Collectibles 8619 109th Street Edmonton, AB T6G Canada [Discuss] [Pre-register]	Second Edition (Standard) Rusty's Pizza 3731 State Street Santa Barbara, CA 93105 United States [Discuss] [Pre-register]	First Edition (Official) The Pommeler's Rest 198 Tower Bridge Road London, SE1 2UN United Kingdom [Discuss] [Pre-register]	Tribbles (Standard) The Pommeler's Rest 198 Tower Bridge Road London, SE1 2UN United Kingdom [Discuss] [Pre-register]
		Tribbles (Standard) OBS De Blijberg Gordelweg 216 3038 GA, Rotterdam The Netherlands [Discuss] [Pre-register]

Wizards Comics and Collectibles: This will be only the third Regional Championships to be held in Canada, and the first in the city of Edmonton. Just two players have pre-registered so far, but the player map shows at least three other potential players in the immediate area. Further afield, players will have a minimum of 200 miles (approximately 300 Kilometres) traveling to reach the venue. There has only been one previous Second Edition tournament at this venue, with five participants. The winner was Thomas Solway (tksolway), and for no better reason than being on form, he is my pick to win.

There are no past Regionals results at Wizards Comics and Collectibles.

Rusty's Pizza: This is the inaugural Second Edition Regional Championships to be held in Santa Barbara. Recent tournaments at the venue have attracted between five and nine players. Thomas Kamiura (Bosskamiura) has won two out of the last three tournaments and must be considered favorite, even though he has never won a Second Edition Regional in the Continuing Committee era. Of the twelve pre-registered players, Johnny Holeva (jjh) looks to have a chance. Johnny has won a Regional Championship in each of the last three years, but has yet to win one this year. Also in contention: Charlie Plaine (MidnightLich) - provided he doesn't build his deck on the day of the tournament, Dan Hamman (SirDan) - provided he can take a break from producing all the new tournament promos, and Rogue Shindler (SirRogue) - provided he can take a break from thinking up new achievements. My pick to win is Johnny.

There are no past Regionals results at Rusty's Pizza.

The Pommeler's Rest [1E]: The only First Edition Regional Championship of the weekend is taking place in the Omarion Nebula Region. With ten players already pre-registered, it is on course to become the second best (tied) attended First Edition Regional this year. If an additional three players show up it will become the largest First Edition Regional this year. The discussion topic sees mention of the "Northern" horde and the "slightly Norther then the Northern" horde planning on attending, a challenge for anyone to build a deck around Wesley, and a competition to see who can score the fewest points. It should make for an interesting day! With all ten pre-registered players having a rating within 14 points of each other, it would appear there is little to choose between them. My pick to win is Stuart Marsh (SAM2000), because he promised retribution following the Second Edition Regional two weeks ago.

There are no past Regionals results at The Pommeler's Rest.

The Pommeler's Rest [Tr]: The second half of the double header in London is the first of two Tribbles Regional Championships this weekend. Four players have pre-registered so far, but the tournament organizer is hopeful of persuading some of the other seven First Edition players to stay and give it a go. Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser) has won two of the four Tribbles tournaments he has played in, and he is aiming to win his fifth Regional Championship (across all games) of the year. Who knows? If he does win, I may have to interview him next week. I've never picked Johannes to win though, and I'm not about to this time either. I unashamedly pick myself to win.

There are no past Tribbles Regionals results.

OBS De Blijberg: The second Tribbles Regional Championship of the day is being held in the New Bajor Region. It has been scheduled after a First Edition draft tournament, so that players can play in both tournaments. Just one player has pre-registered so far: Enrico Evink (enrico81). He has won two First Edition Regional Championship this year and, as one of only three players who have played Tribbles in the New Bajor Region before, is my pick to win.

There are no past Tribbles Regionals results.

Predictions

I only managed one out of four correct predictions last week. My record now stands at 40% (18 out of 45). Given the number of Regional Championships remaining, my record is going to finish between 31% (if I am incorrect every remaining time) and 53% (if I am correct every remining time). I'm aiming for the latter number.

Next Week

A review of the five results from week twelve, another interview, and a preview of the eight Regional Championships taking place in the final week.

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

Back to Archive index