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 2012, Week 5.
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 5 Review
Thursday 26th April | Friday 27th April | ||
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Second Edition (Standard) Mark's House 181 MacEwan Road SW Edmonton, AB T6W 1K2 Canada [Cancelled] |
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Saturday 28th April | Sunday 29th April | ||
First Edition (Revised) Round Table Pizza 2960 Treat Boulevard Concord, CA 94518 United States [Results] |
Tribbles (Standard) Round Table Pizza 2960 Treat Boulevard Concord, CA 94518 United States [Results] |
Second Edition (Standard) OBS De Blijberg Gordelweg 216 3038 GA, Rotterdam The Netherlands [Rescheduled for 6th May] |
Tribbles (Sealed) OBS De Blijberg Gordelweg 216 3038 GA, Rotterdam The Netherlands [Results] |
Second Edition (Standard) Rusty's Pizza 3731 State Street Santa Barbara, CA 93105 United States [Results] |
Tribbles (Standard) Rusty's Pizza 3731 State Street Santa Barbara, CA 93105 United States [Results] |
First Edition (OTF) Battlezone Games Suite B5 4333 Czech Lane NE Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 United States [Results] |
Tribbles (Standard) Battlezone Games Suite B5 4333 Czech Lane NE Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 United States [Results] |
Second Edition (Standard) Super Games Inc Suite 134 11060 Alpharetta Highway Roswell, GA 30076 United States [Results] |
Tribbles (Draft) Super Games Inc Suite 134 11060 Alpharetta Highway Roswell, GA 30076 United States [Results] |
Second Edition (Standard) Prudential Center Food Court 800 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02199 United States [Results] |
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First Edition (OTF) Scott's House 8037 Wilson Woods Drive Mint Hill, NC 28227 United States [Results] |
Tribbles (Standard) Scott's House 8037 Wilson Woods Drive Mint Hill, NC 28227 United States [Results] |
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Second Edition (Standard) Scott's House 8037 Wilson Woods Drive Mint Hill, NC 28227 United States [Results] |
Second Edition (Standard) Quinn House 4212 Inwood Road Fort Worth, TX 76109 United States [Results] |
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Tribbles (Standard) Quinn House 4212 Inwood Road Fort Worth, TX 76109 United States [Results] |
Mark's House: Sadly, this tournament was cancelled due to a lack of players. It seems the promise of "sexy" prizes didn't entice players to Mark's House. Keep an eye on the Regional Championships forum to see if this Regional gets rescheduled.
Round Table Pizza (First Edition): Seven players took part in this Risa Regional in Northern California. Unfortunately, there isn't much to report as the majority of deck lists have yet to be entered. Jeremy Commandeur (Commandeur) was undefeated over three rounds, and won his second Regional title in two years. Jeremy was playing an all TNG-icon Ferengi deck titled "Draws from Continuing Mission might be OP :-(", and bagged seven achievements as a result. Herman Chan (ClonedWhyMe) took second place with a Starfleet deck. As a result of the bye caused by an odd-number of players, and a true tie in one game; the players finishing in fourth, fifth and sixth didn't win a game between them. What is remarkable is that they all finished above the seven placed player - who did manage to win a game. Crazy. Two deck lists can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Round Table Pizza:
Total achievements awarded | 12 |
Most achievements won | Jeremy Commandeur (Commandeur) with 7 |
Average achievements per player | 1.7 |
Biggest ratings gain | Jeremy Commandeur (Commandeur), up 31 points to 1779 |
Average rating of all 7 players | 1601 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Jeremy Commandeur | Stephen Lee | Rich Joakimson | Rich Joakimson |
Round Table Pizza (Tribbles): Following the First Edition Regional, five players remained to contest this Tribbles Regional. Sadly, only one deck list has been entered so far. David Holtmann (OorylQrygg) was victorious with 620,870 Tribbles scored - more than double the combined total of the other four players. Everyone's pick to win, Rich Joakimson (Outsider), finished in second place with 321,222 Tribbles scored. First Edition Regional winner, Jeremy Commandeur (Commandeur), finished without scoring and wasn't even awarded a pity Tribble. One deck list can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Round Table Pizza:
Total achievements awarded | 1 |
Most achievements won | Stephen Lee (grendelX) with 1 |
Average achievements per player | 0.2 |
Total Tribbles Scored | 1,175,426 |
Average Tribbles scored by all 5 players | 235,085 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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David Holtmann | Rich Joakimson | Rich Joakimson | Rich Joakimson |
Rusty's Pizza (Second Edition): 300 miles (500 Km) South of Concord in Santa Barbara, California; six players were battling it out in another Second Edition Regional. Rogue Shindler (SirRogue), playing an Android deck titled "DROID-X2", was undefeated over five rounds and won the title. He says he completed about 70% of his missions on the first attempt over the whole tournament. Everyone's pick to win, Nathan Wineinger (Naetor) only lost to Rogue and finished in second place. Rogue reports that a Gomtuu Shock Wave was the difference between a win and a loss in their third round game. Both players struggled to stop their opponent's mission attempts, and it was the Range reduction on the damage card that prevented Nathan from flying to his third mission before Rogue could do the same at his third mission. Six of the 15 games (40%) played in this tournament resulted in a modified victory. Continuing Committee Chairman Charlie Plaine (MidnightLich) was responsible for four of those results, with his Dominion Infiltration deck titled "It Worked Once...". Just looking at his deck list brings me out in a cold sweat, and has me yelling "I went first" at anyone who will listen. Six deck lists and two tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Rusty's Pizza:
Total achievements awarded | 8 |
Most achievements won | Matt Kirk (CaptMDKirk) and SethMendoza (SethMendoza), with 2 each |
Average achievements per player | 1.3 |
Biggest ratings gain | Rogue Shindler (SirRogue), up 74 points to 1635 |
Average rating of all 6 players | 1542 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Rogue Shindler | Nathan Wineinger | Nathan Wineinger | Nathan Wineinger |
Rusty's Pizza (Tribbles): One additional player joined the players following the Second Edition regional, to make seven participants at this Tribbles Regional. Rogue Shindler (SirRogue) made it back-to-back wins at this double-header with a Discard/Tally/Masaka deck titled "Disadvantage to Advantage". The idea being to play Discards to invite his opponents to play Toxin against him in the hope of hitting a Tally; and when his hand gets too big, use Masaka to even things out. It would appear Rogue's tactic worked, and in his own words he "[Tallyed] a ton for the win." His score of 733,543 Tribbles was almost double that of second place finisher Charlie Plaine (MidnightLich), with 383,123 Tribbles. Charlie was playing a Rainbow Litter deck titled "SirDan's Song About Rainbows", and finished just 673 Tribbles ahead of third place finisher SethMendoza (SethMendoza). Three deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Rusty's Pizza:
Total achievements awarded | 2 |
Most achievements won | Rogue Shindler (SirRogue) and SethMendoza (SethMendoza), with 1 each |
Average achievements per player | 0.3 |
Total Tribbles Scored | 2,135,512 |
Average Tribbles scored by all 7 players | 305,073 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Rogue Shindler | Thomas Kamiura | Rogue Shindler | Matt Kirk |
Super Games Inc (Second Edition): This Cardassia Regional in Roswell, Georgia was the battle between Next Generation and Klingon. Nine players participated, and there were three decks from each of the two affiliations on display. After three rounds, two players were undefeated: Nick C (macgyver221), playing a Next Generation deck titled "Unoriginal"; and AdamBrautigam (AdamBrautigam), playing Klingon. The fourth round game between them to determine the winner sounds like a rather quick game. Both players had completed one mission each, when Nick attempted Restore Errant Moon with six personnel. Adam's only dilemma, Racial Tension, was enough to stop two personnel; but Nick could complete the mission anyway, thanks to the skills and attributes of Data (Lucasian Chair). That was enough for Nick's two-mission deck to take the victory by 100-30. Five deck lists and two tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Super Games Inc:
Total achievements awarded | 7 |
Most achievements won | Michael (mshea2) with 4 |
Average achievements per player | 0.8 |
Biggest ratings gain | AdamBrautigam (AdamBrautigam), up 42 points to 1575 |
Average rating of all 9 players | 1556 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Nick C | Nick C | Greg Hodgin | Nick C |
Super Games Inc (Tribbles): Four players participated in the Tribbles Regional that followed the Second Edition Regional. No deck lists have been entered yet, so there is little to report. Kevin Reitzel (draven88) almost outscored his opponents combined by a factor of two-to-one, with 784,541 Tribbles. Second place finisher, Nick C (macgyver221), scored exactly 300,000 Tribbles; and the other two players got on the scoreboard too. The dreaded pity Tribble was not needed at this tournament. When the deck lists have been entered, they will be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Super Games Inc:
Total achievements awarded | 0 |
Total Tribbles Scored | 1,214,664 |
Average Tribbles scored by all 4 players | 303,666 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Kevin Reitzel | Nick C | Kevin Reitzel | Nick C |
Scott's House (First Edition): The first of three Regional tournaments on the same day at this venue attracted seven players, some returning to the game after periods away. Klingon decks were the most popular, appearing three times; with Bajoran, Ferengi, Romulan and Federation decks also on display. After all three rounds were played, a situation that doesn't often occur happened; there were two undefeated players. Ryan Sutton (rsutton41), playing a Federation deck titled "The Alternate Universe" just pipped Christopher Coyle (startrekccggeek), playing a Klingon deck titled "Legitimate Leader of the Mercenary Raiders" in the tiebreakers to win his first Regional in the Continuing Committee era. Seven deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Scott's House:
Total achievements awarded | 22 |
Most achievements won | Micah Morrison (redshirtsr71) with 7 |
Average achievements per player | 3.1 |
Biggest ratings gain | Ryan Sutton (rsutton41), up 45 points to 1569 |
Average rating of all 7 players | 1522 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Ryan Sutton | Ryan Sutton | Scott Baughman | Christopher Coyle |
Scott's House (Tribbles): The second Sector 001 Regional of the day in North Carolina saw six players participate. Ryan Sutton (rsutton41), fresh from his First Edition victory, took his second title of the day by scoring 470,245 Tribbles - more than all of his competitors combined. Ryan played a Recursive (Copy/Replay) deck titled "Main Tank". Incredibly, Ryan has only played in three tournaments in the Continuing Committee-era, and he has two Regional titles to his name. Mike Camp Sr (cricketman), playing a Poison deck titled "Red Poison" finished in second place with 123,163 Tribbles scored. Six deck lists can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Scott's House:
Total achievements awarded | 3 |
Most achievements won | Ryan Sutton (rsutton41) with 2 |
Average achievements per player | 0.5 |
Total Tribbles Scored | 770,762 |
Average Tribbles scored by all 6 players | 128,460 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Ryan Sutton | Nathan Miracle | Nathan Miracle | Nathan Miracle |
Scott's House (Second Edition): One player couldn't finish the Star Trek marathon, so just five remained to battle it out for the third Regional title of the day. Ryan Sutton (rsutton41) was unable to make it a hat trick of titles, after losing to eventual winner Mike Camp Sr (cricketman) in the second round. Mike was playing a Klingon deck titled "The Fast and The klingoniest". Two deck lists and two tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Scott's House:
Total achievements awarded | 4 |
Most achievements won | Mike Camp Sr (cricketman) with 4 |
Average achievements per player | 0.8 |
Biggest ratings gain | Mike Camp Sr (cricketman), up 55 points to 1506 |
Average rating of all 5 players | 1477 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Mike Camp Sr | Nathan Miracle | Nathan Miracle | Scott Baughman |
Quinn House (Second Edition): Seven players contested this Second Edition Regional in Fort Worth, Texas. After four rounds, there were two undefeated players. Jim Sharp (jss_hobbie), playing a Romulan deck titled "How'd that prediction go?", won all four games and took the title of Regional Champion. That's not a bad feat, considering he had stopped playing competitively for around four years and only returned to playing tournaments six months ago. Everyone's favorite to win, Tyler Fultz (DJstormtrooper), playing a Ferengi deck titled "The Exchequer", finished in second place having only lost his first round game to Jim. The other undefeated player was Jeff Brubaker who, remarkably, finished in last place. This was as a result of him missing the first and last games, otherwise he may have challenged Jim for the title. Six deck lists and three tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page, and an interview with Jim Sharp is below.
Statistics from Quinn House:
Total achievements awarded | 15 |
Most achievements won | Jim Sharp (jss_hobbie) with 6 |
Average achievements per player | 2.1 |
Biggest ratings gain | Jim Sharp (jss_hobbie), up 73 points to 1572 |
Average rating of all 7 players | 1541 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Jim Sharp | Tyler Fultz | Tyler Fultz | Tyler Fultz |
Quinn House (Tribbles): With one player departing, six remained to play in this Tribbles Regional. Joshua Sheets (prylardurden) - who earned an achievement for playing in his eighth Region - won the tournament despite never emptying his hand to go out. One third of Joshua's deck, titled "The Bank May Not Be Open But The ATM Is Ready To Go!", consisted of 100,000 Tribbles (Tally). The aim being to split the points when other players tried to score from him with cards like Utilize and Poison. This tactic worked, just about, as he finished the tournament with a score of 802,220 Tribbles. This was just 39,642 Tribbles ahead of second place finisher Jim Sharp (jss_hobbie), who was playing a deck titled "Poison". Five deck lists and three tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Quinn House:
Total achievements awarded | 9 |
Most achievements won | Tyler Fultz (DJstormtrooper) with 3 |
Average achievements per player | 1.5 |
Total Tribbles Scored | 2,497,507 |
Average Tribbles scored by all 6 players | 416,251 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Joshua Sheets | Gerhard Halgren | Tyler Fultz | Triumph |
OBS De Blijberg (Second Edition): Sadly, this tournament was also cancelled due to a lack of players. It has already been rescheduled, for this weekend!
OBS De Blijberg (Tribbles): Six players participated in this Regional in the New Bajor Region. At the time of writing, no deck lists have been entered. The results show a very high-scoring game, where two players passed one million Tribbles scored. Enrico Evink (enrico81) scored 1,513,052 Tribbles to win the title, while Pah-wraith scored 1,288,338 Tribbles in second place. When the deck lists have been entered, they will be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from OBS De Blijberg:
Total achievements awarded | 3 |
Most achievements won | Enrico Evink (enrico81), Pah-wraith and Rels (Rels); with 1 each |
Average achievements per player | 0.5 |
Total Tribbles Scored | 3,880,490 |
Average Tribbles scored by all 6 players | 646,748 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Enrico Evink | Enrico Evink | Enrico Evink | Enrico Evink |
Battlezone Games (First Edition): Six players took part in this Deep Space 9 Regional in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Klingon decks were prevalent, being used by half the field. The other decks on display were Romulan, Federation and Ferengi. Jon Carter (pfti), playing a Romulan deck titled "Regional Romulans" was undefeated and won the title. This is after all his planned Regional decks were, in his words, "a mess." According to his tournament report, Jon went back to an old Romulan deck for the tournament, and that decision almost backfired on him. Not changing the dilemmas, I Hate You in particular, made for tougher games. Still, it worked out in the end, and Jon won his first Regional title under the Continuing Committee's stewardship of the game. Last year's winner, and tournament director, Jordan Leung (FrakkinPhoenix) finished in second place with a Klingon deck titled "Klingons and Androids and Tribbles, Oh My!". Six deck lists and three tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Battlezone Games:
Total achievements awarded | 24 |
Most achievements won | Jordan Leung (FrakkinPhoenix) with 7 |
Average achievements per player | 4.0 |
Biggest ratings gain | Jon Carter (pfti), up 41 points to 1594 |
Average rating of all 6 players | 1548 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Jon Carter | Jordan Leung | Jordan Leung | Jon Carter |
Battlezone Games (Tribbles): Five players battled it out for the title of Deep Space 9 Tribbles Regional champion. At least three of the decks were copied from, or inspired by, other players. Greg Bloom (InfiltratingFounder)'s deck was titled "Shameless Netdeck", Jordan Leung (FrakkinPhoenix)'s deck was titled "I Copied Dan's Deck" and Michael Bloom (TrekNewbie)'s deck was titled "Very Simple Bonus Deck [v2]". (The only reason I know this is a netdeck, it because it is my own deck.) Each of the five players scored at least 100,000 Tribbles, which is remarkable when you consider that three of the five players were playing in their first Tribbles tournament ever. In the end, Mark Bloom (Nermal) took the title with 510,631 Tribbles. His deck, titled "Famine!", only had four powers: Replay, Famine, Stampede and Go. Gregg finished in second place with 311,011 Tribbles. Five deck lists and three tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Battlezone Games:
Total achievements awarded | 18 |
Most achievements won | Mark Bloom (Nermal) with 6 |
Average achievements per player | 3.6 |
Total Tribbles Scored | 1,246,538 |
Average Tribbles scored by all 5 players | 249,308 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Mark Bloom | Michael Van Breemen | Greg Bloom | Greg Bloom |
Prudential Center Food Court: Eight players participated in this Romulus Regional in Boston, Massachusetts. The game between the top two finishers happened in the first round where Len Neidorf (Dirty Nel), playing Cardassian; faced Lucas Thompson (edgeofhearing), playing a Next Generation deck titled "Can I Be A Warlock Too?". Len won that game and, despite a tie in his second round game against Chris O'Connell (Brak_), went on to win the tournament. Lucas finished in second place and Chris rounded out the top three. Special mention goes to Steve Fairweather (Gades), who won two games in his first tournament in the Continuing Committee-era. Two deck lists can be found on the tournament results page.
Statistics from Prudential Center Food Court:
Total achievements awarded | 5 |
Most achievements won | Steve Fairweather (Gades) with 3 |
Average achievements per player | 0.6 |
Biggest ratings gain | Chris O'Connell (Brak_), up 25 points to 1578 |
Average rating of all 8 players | 1561 |
Winner | James' Prediction | Kris' Prediction | Michael's Prediction |
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Len Neidorf | Len Neidorf | Len Neidorf | Lucas Thompson |
Interview
This week, Jim Sharp (jss_hobbie); Winner of the "The Void" Regional in Fort Worth, Texas; answers my questions.
James: You've been out of the game for a while. What made you decide to start playing again?
Jim: Well, I have been out of playing competitively for some time. I would still play locally with friends. I think the last tournament I was in might have been GenCon in 2007. I had run so many tournaments in the past; from Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and other Decipher stuff; that I was taking a break from hosting tournaments. Tyler came along and picked that up where I left off for a while before heading off to Germany. When he told me he was coming back, some friends and I began getting ready to play some games.
James: What decks were you considering playing at the Second Edition Regional?
Jim: I had played my Romulan/Maquis Gal Gath'thong deck in an earlier tournament and people hated playing against it, so I declined to play that. I have a few other decks I thought about playing that I still might in Continentals (I don't want to disclose those now of course).
James: What decks did you expect to face?
Jim: From the people I knew to be there, I expected Tyler to play his deck where you cannot select any of his personnel. Other than that I knew Federation of some sort and a possible Borg deck. With only five players that I knew would be there, I honestly felt it was up in the air.
James: Can you describe how your Romulan deck works?
Jim: The deck list is here. It is similar to other Donatra/Wariness decks out there. Basically, play your 4+ cost personnel, use Clear Ultimatum early to slow your opponent down and once Dukat has placed six cards out of play, go for it! I can easily complete all three missions needed in one turn. I made sure to have some Holding Cell protection and event cancel stuff to protect my Wariness. Surprise Party is important since I have so many personnel costing 4 or more. I have plenty of events in the deck, 40% of the deck I believe, to make Ruwon and Karina work. My dilemma pile works off the deck as well, using Caretaker's "Guests", You Vant to go back?, and Continuing Committee Hearing all together pretty effectively.
James: Are there any special tricks in the deck?
Jim: I like the Ohhhh! Nothing Happened! with Slightly Awkward. It helps me from facing the dilemmas I don't want to see. Other than that, not really. There are some nice combos like I mentioned with Caretaker "Guests", but no, it is rather straight forward if you ask me.
James: How did the tournament play out, from your perspective?
Jim: Well, about as expected for me. I thought that Tyler and I had the best chance with Gerhard Halgren possibly pulling off a surprise and catching second. Richard New and Jonathon are solid players and could have done better as well, so I wouldn't look at their placing in the tournament and judge them either.
James: It seems from your tournament report and deck title ("How'd that prediction go?") that you were unhappy that all three predictions were for Tyler to win. Did this add extra impetus to your first round game against him?
Jim: Well it did make me want to beat him even more, but I wanted to win anyways. He is one of my best friends and he deserves the recognition that he gets, so I would never be mad at him. He just knows I beat him more than he beats me :) He owns me in sealed tournaments, but as long as I can beat him in the constructed ones, that's fine with me. Like I said, I knew I wasn't going to get any love (despite me going undefeated last tournament) and that's fine. Some people might remember the name, but that's ok if they don't.
James: Who was your toughest opponent?
Jim: Gerhard Halgren. Simply because we playtest together. We will play about twelve times a week using different decks against one another to see what we can come up with. Plus he is just funny to look at, so that's distracting (I kid of course).
James: Now the tournament is over, how would you improve the deck?
Jim: That's tough. I like it the way it is now. I will wait to see what comes out in the next expansion before any bigger tournament.
James: Moving on to Tribbles, I assume the threat of hitting an Antidote didn't deter you from playing a Poison deck?
Jim: I play in Tribbles tournaments so Tyler can win a tournament. Just kidding. I learned my lesson about the Antidotes last tournament in which Gerhard Halgren won without ever going out. I placed second then too I believe.
James: Josh Sheets won the tournament despite not going out in any round. He attributes part of his victory to you and your "fairly constant poisoning". With hindsight, would you have played differently against him?
Jim: Yeah, the problem is that Richard New was playing a nasty little deck with a lot of 100,000 Tribbles in there, but I knew he had some Antidotes. I figured I could have gone out a second time and pass him up. He barely outscored me to win.
James: Now the tournament is over, how would you improve the deck?
Jim: I was lacking in some cards, and hope to improve it beforehand. Probably some more Poison. I love that strategy.
James: Do you have anything else to add?
Jim: We had a great time at the Regionals and I believe most are going to make the trip to at least GenCon to play, so hopefully I can meet more Trek players.
Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, Jim.
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