The Road to Worlds 2011, Week 14

by Kris Sonsteby, Staff Writer

30th 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 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.

Week 13 Review

Saturday 25th June		Sunday 26th June
Second Edition (Standard) Outpost Herna Kroftova 8 Praha 5, 15000 Czech Republic [Results]	Second Edition (Standard) CVJM Kassel e.V. Wolfsschlucht 21 34117 Kassel Germany [Results]	First Edition (Official) Battlezone Games 85 North Center Point Road Hiawatha, IA 52233 United States [Results]	First Edition (Official) Cranberry Cafe 115 West 45th Street New York, NY 10036-4005 United States [Results]
Second Edition (Standard) Battlezone Games 85 North Center Point Road Hiawatha, IA 52233 United States [Results]	First Edition (Official) Arby's Restaurant 2815 13th Avenue South Fargo, ND 58103 United States [Results]
Second Edition (Standard) Red Planet Games and Hobbies 118 East Main Street Forest City, NC 28043 United States [Results]	Tribbles (Standard) Red Planet Games and Hobbies 118 East Main Street Forest City, NC 28043 United States [Results]

Outpost Herna [2E]: At the time of this writing, the results for this Borg Region 2E Regional Championship have yet to be entered. When they are, a review of the tournament will be added to this article.

CVJM Kassel e.V. [2E]: The sixth and final 2E Regional Championship in Germany this year attracted a dozen players, including 2010 German National Champion Tyler Fultz (DJstormtrooper) and reigning World Champion Tobias Rausmann (garetjax). When the dust had settled, Tobias was victorious playing a revamped version of the infamous “Sub/Vac” deck titled " The Vacation of the charismatic, charming, gentleman Q." Living up to his reputation, Tyler, James’ pick to win the event, finished in second, playing a revamped version of his 2010 Worlds design ominously titled "It's back...." Two other deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from CVJM Kassel e.V.:

Total achievements awarded	2
Most achievements won	Tobias Rausmann (garetjax), with 2
Average achievements per player	0.2
Biggest ratings gain	Sandra Wanek (Sandra), up 78 points to 1445
Average rating of all 12 players	1521

Battlezone Games [2E]: Participation in the second 2E Regional Championship to be held in the CC era in Iowa was cut in half, from eighteen down to nine, but the competition remained fierce as no player finished the day with four wins. As was the case last year, an out-of-town player left victorious, with Al Schaefer (ltkettch17) from Illinois winning the event with a deck on the back of three full wins and a true tie. Defending Master’s Jacket Champion Greg Bloom (InfiltratingFounder) finished second with a deck titled "Kirk is Still Da' Man" and Michael O’Shogay (shagg08) rounded out the top three with a deck titled "Donatra Smash-The Downside of the Schwartz Version." James’ pick, Michael van Breeman (The Ninja Scot) finished in sixth playing . Four other deck lists and five tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page, and an interview with the winner, Al Schaefer, is below.

Statistics from Battlezone Games:

Total achievements awarded	7
Most achievements won	Greg Bloom (InfiltratingFounder), with 3
Average achievements per player	0.8
Biggest ratings gain	Al Schaefer (ltkettch17), up 44 points to 1597
Average rating of all 9 players	1553

Arby's Restaurant [1E]: This 1E Regional Championship in North Dakota attracted five players, three of which were from the Twin Cities area. Despite being outnumbered, the locals were able to successfully defend their home turf as Jerad Berhow (Jerad) finished in first place playing a deck unimaginatively titled "Klingons" and Matthew Hayes (karonofborg13), James’ pick to win this event, finished in second with a deck oddly titled "Deadly Chains & Whips Excite Us (and annoy the silly hell out of our enemies!)" One other deck list and three tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from Arby's Restaurant:

Total achievements awarded	10
Most achievements won	Jerad Berhow (Jerad) and Dan van Kampen (Iron Prime), with 3 each.
Average achievements per player	2.0
Biggest ratings gain	Jerad Berhow (Jerad), up 44 points to 1586
Average rating of all 5 players	1515

Red Planet Games and Hobbies [2E]: The first of what will hopefully be several 2E Regional Championships to transpire in North Carolina attracted eleven players, including a few first time CC era tournament participants. Greg Hodgin (tomalak), playing, per his tournament report, capture won gold, while Nick C (macguyver221), playing a dual headquarters deck aimed at collecting an achievement and James’ pick, once again finished in second with a & deck appropriately titled "Maquis Strange Bedfellow." Perhaps next year James will revise his forecasts to count any player who happens to “medal” in a given event towards his totals of accurate predictions. Two other deck lists and three other tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from Red Planet Games and Hobbies:

Total achievements awarded	16
Most achievements won	Greg Hodgin (tomalak), with 4
Average achievements per player	1.5
Biggest ratings gain	Greg Hodgin (tomalak), up 57 points to 1626
Average rating of all 11 players	1508

Red Planet Games and Hobbies [Tr]: At the time of this writing, the results for this Sector 001 Tribbles Regional Championship have yet to be entered. When they are, a review of the tournament will be added to this article.

Battlezone Games [1E]: The inaugural 1E Regional Championship to be held in Iowa on the heels of their second 2E Regional Championship the day prior attracted four players, including two former World Champions in the forms of Jordan Leung (FrakkinPhoenix) and Michael van Breemen (The Ninja Scot).  Following a round-robin event, James’ pick Jordan was the victor with three full wins. Two deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from Battlezone Games:

Total achievements awarded	8
Most achievements won	Jordan Leung (FrakkinPheonix), with 4
Average achievements per player	2.0
Biggest ratings gain	Jordan Leung (FrakkinPheonix) , up 27 points to 1692.
Average rating of all four players	1543

Cranberry Cafe [1E]: Four players came out to Cranberry Café to compete in this rescheduled Romulus Regional. James' pick to win and tournament director Austin Chandler (DarkSabre) was victorious and undefeated on the day. Mark Rowe (Bester) and Edward Dykstra (annoyedgreatly) finished second and third, respectively, following their true tie in round #2 that required cumulative victory points to separate their placement. No deck lists and one tournament report written by the winner can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from Cranberry Cafe:

Total achievements awarded	4
Most achievements won	Austin Chandler (DarkSabre), with 3
Average achievements per player	1.0
Biggest ratings gain	Austin Chandler (DarkSabre), up 31 points to 1641
Average rating of all four players	1514

Interview

This week, Al Schaefer (ltkettch17) stops by to answers some questions.

Kris: Congratulations on your win, Al. In preparation for the tournament, what decks were you considering playing?
Al: Thanks! I had several options, but my serious choices other than Borg were Terok Nor, Cardassian Capture, and Cadets.

Kris: What decks did you expect to face and did they have any impact on what you chose to play?
Al: I was expecting to face Cadets, TOS, DS9-E, Past Klingons or High Council Klingons, and some kind of Donatra/Assess Contamination build. All those decks bring speed and reliability. I didn't feel that Terok Nor was up to the challenge and I felt that Capture would require error-free execution in order to win. To compete against highly reliable speed solvers, I did not feel that a 'gimmick' deck would give me the best chance.

Kris: Why did you decide to play Borg?
Al: I truly expected that in order to win the regional I would have to face Michael van Breeman. The last time I defeated him was with a similar Borg deck at last year’s IL Regional. I also felt much more confident with the Borg than my other options.

Kris: What variant (solver or assimilator) of Borg did you play and why?
Al: I went with a straight solver. I had an assimilator build available, but I was much more confident with the solver. My recent string of poor tournament performances was probably the single largest factor in my deck choice (especially the IL regional.) I really wanted to come out of the tournament with a few wins and some confidence with GenCon just a few weeks away. I wanted my games to be simple, predictable, and stress-free. The Borg solver made all that possible while forcing me to think ahead and plan out each turn. At the IL regional I felt that I had broken every personal rule I had ever set for myself and the result was that I finished third to last. It was important for me to regain my confidence in Iowa and just play some solid games.

Kris: What were your plans to deal with some of the other top contenders (i.e. DS9, Klingon, and TOS?)
Al: A second copy each of An Issue of Trust and Rogue Borg Ambush were added to my dilemma pile. Both seemed effective against the top contenders and definitely came in handy during the day. I also added Analyze to my draw deck with the plan of keeping dilemmas that would normally return to my opponent's pile. Many dilemma piles lately seem to include several dilemmas that return to pile (Polywater, Dal'rok, etc.). Analyze offered an option of keeping those dilemmas under my missions instead of being replayed. It didn't quite work out as I had planned, but I didn't really have any of my interrupts in hand when I needed them.

Kris: How was the tournament for you?
Al: It started out great. Game 1 and 2 were shutout victories that definitely gave me the necessary confidence to secure game 3 and hold off my opponent in game 4. My deck worked as I had expected with the exception of a random discard of Quintessence in game 4 which really set me back.

Kris: Who was your toughest opponent?
Al: Greg Bloom definitely gave me the toughest game; it ended in a True Tie. He was able to keep Quintessence off the table and I had a difficult time keeping pace. I was forced to play an At What Cost? while I was being stalled at my second mission. I had a lot of luck in this game with dilemma draws and random selections. A key misplay on my part kept me from at least a modified win, but Greg definitely did all the right things to make this game as tough as possible for me. His only mistake may have been playing too cautiously for fear of mass assimilation.

Kris:If you had to face your deck in a tournament, how would you play to beat it?
Al: Keeping Quintessence off the table is paramount to defeating a Big Borg deck, as limiting their ability to download at will stops them cold. Use dilemmas like Secret Identity and The Caretaker's Guests to filter out personnel like Locutus and the Borg Queen to take advantage of skill holes like Leadership and Officer, and dilemmas like Rogue Borg Ambush to take advantage of the lack of Intelligence.

Kris: Now that the tournament is over, how would you improve your deck?
Al: I would definitely try to cut down on the size. I think 70 cards would be ideal for this deck. I had a difficult time drawing interrupts all day. Just one Ascertain would have made a huge difference in my game with Greg.

Kris: How does it feel to win the coveted Master's Jacket at a Regional?
Al: It's a great feeling to become a part of a classy 2E tradition. I'm truly honored to be the person bringing the Jacket to GenCon and will happily pass it on to another great player.

Kris: Do you have anything else to add?
Al: I'd like to thank Amber for running a great event and all the people who came out to play. I'm looking forward to playing at GenCon and telling Charlie in person how much my local group and I appreciate all the work he and the other Committee members do for this great game.

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, Al, and best of luck at GenCon.

Byes

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

* Jared Burhow (Jerad), winner at Arby’s Restaurant
* Jordan Leung (FrakkinPhoenix), winner at Battlezone Games
* Austin Chandler (DarkSabre), winner at Cranberry Café

Additionally, at the time of this writing, four players have won a Day One, Round One bye into the Second Edition Continental Championships:

* Sandra Wanek (Sandra), hand down at CVJM Kassel e.V.
* Matthias Weller (ezrifromds9), hand down at CVJM Kassel e.V.
* Al Schaefer (ltkettch17), winner at Battlezone Games
* Greg Hodgin (tomalak), winner at Red Planet Games and Hobbies

Lastly, as at the time of this writing the Tribbles Regional results have not been entered, no additional players were awarded a 100,000 Tribbles Headstart into the Tribbles Continental Championships this week.

Congratulations to all of the players in this final week of Regionals, and I wish better luck next year to anyone who didn't make it this time around. 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 13 First Edition players at three tournaments this week, taking the total players at First Edition Regional Championships to 113 - an average of 6.65 players per tournament.

Over Regional Season, the most popular First Edition affiliations were:
1.	Unknown Affiliations	Used by 24 (21.24%) players	3 Regional wins
2.	Federation	Used by 19 (16.81%) players	2 Regional wins
3.	Multiple Affiliations	Used by 16 (14.16%) players	3 Regional wins
4.	Ferengi	Used by 10 (8.85%) players	1 Regional win
5.	Romulan	Used by 7 (6.19%) players	1 Regional win
5.	Klingon	Used by 7 (6.19%) players	1 Regional win
5.	Borg	Used by 7 (6.19%) players
8.	Cardassian	Used by 6 (5.31%) players	2 Regional wins
9.	Starfleet	Used by 4 (3.54%) players	2 Regional win
9.	Non-Aligned	Used by 4 (3.54%) players	1 Regional win
11.	Bajoran	Used by 3 (2.65%) players	1 Regional win
12.	Hirogen	Used by 2 (1.77%) players
12.	Terran Empire	Used by 2 (1.77%) players
12.	Vidiian	Used by 2 (1.77%) player

There were thirty-two Second Edition players at three completed tournaments this week, taking the total players at Second Edition Regional Championships to 301 - an average of 8.85 players per tournament.

Over Regional Season, the most popular Second Edition affiliations were:
1.	Klingon	Used by 35 (11.48%) players	6 Regional wins
2.	Multiple Affiliations	Used by 27 (8.97%) players	2 Regional wins
3.	Romulan	Used by 26 (8.64%) players	2 Regional wins
3.	Unknown Affiliations	Used by 26 (8.64%) players
5.	Borg	Used by 24(7.97%) players	6 Regional wins
5.	Next Generation	Used by 24 (7.97%) players	1 Regional win
7.	Original Series	Used by 22 (7.31%) players	4 Regional wins
8.	Starfleet	Used by 18 (5.98%) players
9.	Voyager/Equinox	Used by 17 (5.65%) players	3 Regional wins
9.	Cardassian	Used by 17 (5.65%) players	1 Regional win
11.	Deep Space 9	Used by 13 (4.32%) players	3 Regional wins
12.	Earth (Home of Starfleet Command)	Used by 11 (3.65%) players	2 Regional wins
13.	Terok Nor	Used by 10 (3.32%) players	1 Regional win
14.	Dominion	Used by 9 (2.99%) players
15.	Ferengi	Used by 8 (2.66%) players	1 Regional win
16.	Maquis	Used by 6 (1.99%) players
17.	Bajoran	Used by 5 (1.66%) players
18.	Non-Aligned	Used by 3 (1.00%) players

As the Tribbles tournament scheduled for this week has yet to have its results entered, the total players at Tribbles Regional Championships this Regional Season remains 46 - an average of 6.6 players per tournament. A total of 16,294,908 Tribbles were scored - an average of 354,237 Tribbles per player.

Predictions

Last week James correctly predicted two of the six winners of completed tournaments. His final record stands at 36.36% (20 out of 55.) While roughly one out of every three isn’t bad, I’m certain he can do better next year.

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