The Road to Worlds 2012, Week 8

by James Hoskin, Director of Organized Play

17th May 2012

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 7.

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 7 Review

Saturday 12th May		Sunday 13th May
Second Edition (Standard) GameKnight Games and Cool Stuff 726 Osborne Street Winnipeg, MB R3L 2C2 Canada [Results]	Second Edition (Standard) Kaiserpalast Pressather Strasse 113 92637 Weiden Germany [Results]	First Edition (Sealed) Good Games Brisbane 74 Little Edward Street Spring Hill, QLD 4000 Australia [Results]	First Edition (OTF) State Library of Western Australia 25 Francis Street Northbridge, WA 6003 Australia [Results]
Tribbles (Standard) Kaiserpalast Pressather Strasse 113 92637 Weiden Germany [Results]	First Edition (Sealed) Rusty's Pizza 3731 State Street Santa Barbara, CA 93105 United States [Results]	First Edition (Block Constr.) FanBoy3 17 Newton Street Manchester, M1 1FZ United Kingdom [Results]

GameKnight Games and Cool Stuff: This Rura Penthe Regional in Winnipeg, Canada attracted five players, with the out-of-towners outnumbering the locals by three to two. It was run as a round robin event over five rounds. After four rounds, every player had suffered at least one loss; and three of the players could have won the tournament based on the outcome of the final round. A full win in the game between Keith Morris (Foreman), playing a Voyager deck titled "Winnipeg Regional (2012)"; and Kyle Schewe (caravanhymn), playing a Dominion deck titled "The Cost of Victory"; would see that player take the title. If either player could only manage a modified win, then Kris Sonsteby (LORE), playing an Original Series deck titled "Here's a Twenty... Go Get Yourself Another Suit" would take the title instead. Despite losing two large hands to The Dreamer and the Dream early on, Keith overcame the setback and powered through Kyle's dilemmas to take the win with less than five minutes remaining on the clock. This was Keith's second Regional title, the first being back in 2008. Four deck lists and three tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from GameKnight Games and Cool Stuff:

Total achievements awarded	5
Most achievements won	Keith Morris (Foreman) and Kyle Schewe (caravanhymn), with 2 each
Average achievements per player	1.0
Biggest ratings gain	Kyle Schewe (caravanhymn), up 38 points to 1518
Average rating of all 5 players	1676

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Keith Morris	Kris Sonsteby	Kris Sonsteby	Mike Rudolph

Kaiserpalast (Second Edition): Eight players participated in the first half of this Vandros IV double-header in Weiden, Germany; including three from the Czech Republic. Among them were former World Champion Tobias Rausmann (garetjax), playing a Next Generation deck titled "No REM for cadets"; former European Continental Champion Vladimir Vrbata (vlasopes), playing a Voyager deck titled "We'll continue to follow our directive, to seek out new worlds and explore space."; and reigning British National Champion Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser), playing an Original Series deck titled "(Skill) Tracking into the Wind". Vladimir won the tournament after winning all of his five games. Tobias led the pack of four players chasing him, each of whom had three wins and two losses. That must have been quite a competitive field. As is usual for this Regional season, blue decks were everywhere. Next Generation and Original Series were played twice each, and the other four decks were Voyager, Starfleet, Romulan and Dominion. Seven deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from Kaiserpalast:

Total achievements awarded	10
Most achievements won	Jirka Paska (Taurnil) and Stepan Vyskocil (Bacil), with 3 each
Average achievements per player	1.3
Biggest ratings gain	Flo, up 43 points to 1593
Average rating of all 8 players	1663

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Vladimir Vrbata	Johannes Klarhauser	Johannes Klarhauser	Tobias Rausmann

Kaiserpalast (Tribbles): With the Second Edition Regional running longer than expected, a number of the players had to leave before the Tribbles Regional could begin. Fortunately, Johannes' wife Barbara stepped in to help with sanctioning; and, according to his tournament report, she got quite competitive. Read into it what you will that Johannes repeatedly refers to Barbara not by her name but as "my wife", and then makes reference to a two hour drive they had to make straight after the tournament. Perhaps it had something to do with Barbara repeatedly targeting her husband's Clone with her Freeze? Or maybe it had to do with Barbara being unable to play cards as she was following Johannes? Despite the apparent marital strife, Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser), playing a Clone/Score deck titled "Why does my wife give me the evil eye every time I score off Naked Dax?", won the tournament with 875,564 Tribbles scored. Barbara Richter, playing a Bonus deck titled "Barbara's Bonus deck" took second place with 686,544 Tribbles - most of which were scored in the final round. Four deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from Kaiserpalast:

Total achievements awarded	3
Most achievements won	Flo with 2
Average achievements per player	0.8
Total Tribbles Scored	2,198,698
Average Tribbles scored by all 4 players	549,675

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Johannes Klarhauser	Johannes Klarhauser	Markus Eberlein	Johannes Klarhauser

Rusty's Pizza: Six players took part in this First Edition Draft Risa Regional. Only one deck list has been entered at the time of writing so there is very little to report on. Jeremy Commandeur (Commandeur) was undefeated over three rounds and won his second Regional title this year. In the second round, he beat Stephen Lee (grendelX) for the first time in a sealed event in the Continuing Committee-era. Stephen finished as runner-up. Joel Bray (JoelBray) didn't perform too well, but his deck title the big story of the day: "Last place isn't so bad when you draft a Future Enterprise!". Congratulations on finding an Ultra-Rare Joel! One deck list can be found on the tournament results page, and an interview with winner Jeremy Commandeur is below.

Statistics from Rusty's Pizza:

Total achievements awarded	7
Most achievements won	Jeremy Commandeur (Commandeur), Stephen Lee (grendelX) and Joel Bray (JoelBray); with 2 each
Average achievements per player	1.2
Biggest ratings gain	Aaron Weil (Jewbacca), up 38 points to 1498
Average rating of all 6 players	1582

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Jeremy Commandeur	Jeremy Commandeur	Jeremy Commandeur	Stephen Lee

Good Games Brisbane: This OTSD Briar Patch Regional attracted six players for some round-robin action. All but one player decided to play Treaty: Federation/Romulan/Klingon, so there wasn't much mission stealing to be had. The field was very competitive, as everyone managed at least one win and everyone suffered at least one loss. As predicted, brothers Ben Dillon (Broshak) and Greg Dillon (Latok) were the ones to watch. Ben, playing a Tri-Treaty deck titled "1st ed 2012 Regional" won the tournament, despite losing his final game; and Greg, playing a Tri-Treaty deck titled "OTSD 2012" was runner-up with two losses. As with the Risa Regional (above), one player - Garry Dillon (AdmiralG) - pulled an Ultra-Rare Futrue Enterprise from his packs. Just like Joel at the Risa Regional, it didn't help Garry with his performance. Three deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from Good Games Brisbane:

Total achievements awarded	12
Most achievements won	Mike Garvey (Mike2E) with 3
Average achievements per player	2.0
Biggest ratings gain	Ben Dillon (Broshak), up 28 points to 1613
Average rating of all 6 players	1507

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Ben Dillon	Greg Dillon	Ben Dillon	Ben Dillon

State Library of Western Australia: This First Edition Regional in Perth, Australia attracted four players. In what is looking less-like coincidence and more-like "there is an order of things in this universe" (^TM Apollo), this is the third year in succession that these four players have finished in exactly the same positions in this Deep Space Station K-7 Regional. Matthew Townsend (thac0276), playing a Federation deck titled "We Are Legion", was undefeated with his Federation deck, and won the title for the third year; ahead of Robert Dawson (TBT), playing a Federation deck titled "Everyone Enjoys a Good TOS", in second place. Three deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from State Library of Western Australia:

Total achievements awarded	2
Most achievements won	Daniel Hyde (zephrem) with 2
Average achievements per player	0.5
Biggest ratings gain	Matthew Townsend (thac0276), up 46 points to 1603
Average rating of all 4 players	1540

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Matthew's Prediction
Matthew Townsend	Robert Dawson	Matthyas Kiraly	Matthew Townsend

FanBoy3: Four players participated in this First Edition Omarion Nebula Regional. It was run using the "block" card pool so the decks comprised one Federation, one Ferengi and two Klingon. After two rounds, only one player was undefeated: Danny (nuttersuclan), playing a Klingon battle deck titled " Five K'Blocks to the Subway v2.1". His blood-thirsty Klingons were defeated in the third round though... by the Ferengi! Niall Matthew (sexecutioner) writes in his report that he thought the game was over when Danny amassed five ships at his outpost, but a timely Ablative Armor helped his Ferengi gain the upper hand. The two players then spent the rest of the game destroying each other's ships and killing each other's personnel, but Niall was scoring 5 points when he could from Ferengi Military Operations. I'm not sure either player attempted a mission before time was called, so Niall won the game 35-5 to take his first Regional title in the Continuing Committee-era. Danny was runner-up. Four deck lists and one tournament report can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from FanBoy3:

Total achievements awarded	24
Most achievements won	Niall Matthew (sexecutioner) with 10
Average achievements per player	6.0
Biggest ratings gain	Niall Matthew (sexecutioner), up 36 points to 1447
Average rating of all 4 players	1527

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

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Interview

This week, Jeremy Commandeur (Commandeur); Reigning First Edition World Champion, winner of two Regional titles this year, and two more Regional titles last year; steps into the spotlight.

James: Congratulations on your win. You have won two Regionals, Revised in Concord and OTSD Draft in Santa Barbara. Which was tougher, Constructed or Sealed?
Jeremy: Constructed. I've always thought of myself as a better sealed deck player than constructed player. I love sealed deck. Honestly, the OTSD is the single greatest product Decipher ever made. OTSD Booster draft is my most beloved format of a all time. I will play any format, OTF, Revised, Standard, Balance of Power, Highlander, whatever. However, sealed deck, especially OTSD draft is easily my favorite.

James: You've played more sealed deck than many of your opponents. Is there a strategy that works for you every time, or do you "wing it" with what you get given?
Jeremy: The beauty of sealed deck is that it is a true test of your skills as a player. You have to make the best of what you are given. There are some general strategies that I used for OTSD in particular. Focus on a small deck, as close to 30 cards as possible. This will force you to build a better deck with less fluff you might not use. It will also allow you to learn your deck better as you play it. If you only have two diplomacy, don't risk those personnel. It is better to have two diplomacy in a 30 card deck that you play smart with than four diplomacy in a 50 card deck that is large and inconsistent.

Space dilemmas are weaker in OTSD. Consider going with six space missions to waste your opponent's planet dilemmas. Inversely, if you know your opponent is likely to go with six space missions (for example if your opponent is Stephen Lee), try and draft some bonus point dilemmas. You can then put the point dilemmas under your own missions to protect them and possibly pick up extra points for a three mission win.

I'm of the mind set that it is better to go with six 30-35 point missions of both planet and space that you can solve easily, than all space or all planet where some missions are hard to solve. I would rather aim for a fast three mission win than have to solve four missions or do a lot of flying around.

In OTSD sealed deck in particular there are two tactics that will win you games: A. Steal Missions, and B. Battle, in particular space battle. This often makes First Edition sealed deck hard for Second Edition players to deal with as rules based battle and missions stealing are absent in Second Edition. However, it is how the original game was designed to be played. When you play sealed deck, you are playing Trek in its purest form, as it was designed to be played.

I favor mission stealing over battle. Don't try to steal any/all of your opponent's missions. Focus on just one or two you think you can solve easily. Memorize what you seed under that mission, and look for an opportunity to steal it.

To make First Edition sealed deck less competitive for new players and Second Edition players branching out, we often give everybody a Fair Play. This limits mission stealing to just universal missions. We did this in Santa Barbara. Even if you are playing with Fair Play, consider a "soft steal" as a strategy. Your missions in sealed deck are likely weaker, and only worth 25-30 points. To get to 100, attempt one of your opponent's missions (even if you can't solve it) with bonus point dilemmas under it you seeded. I used this tactic in Santa Barbara.

In OTF, you are not even allowed to attempt your opponent's missions, let alone solve them. Fair Play has been in First Edition for a decade, but you were always allowed to attempt your opponent's missions for the entire history of the game up until just the past couple of years. There are over 50 cards designed for you to attempt your opponent's missions and you will likely see many of those cards in ANY sealed deck. I see some groups running OTF sealed deck. I would encourage everybody to avoid that, that cripples the game and runs directly contrary to how the game was designed. OTF sealed deck will remove interaction and dumb down the game. If your local group is a Second Edition group, give everybody a Fair Play in sealed deck, but stick with Open rules. Learning how to play Open will make your group stronger players in all formats.

James: Are there particular dilemmas you expect to face in an OTSD tournament, and do you try to build your draw deck around them?
Jeremy: Conundrum and Outpost Raid from Alternate Universe are both strong dilemmas, expect them. Premiere has a lot of dilemmas kill people if you don't have Medical. Don't skimp on Medical, throw in Dr. Farek, Simon Tarses, or a Medical Kit if you have to. Expect to face Shaka, When the Walls Fell, Armus-Sticky Situation and Q-Net. Guard your Diplomacy from death. Hidden Entrance and Alien Labyrinth in Alternate Universe are Common, and Radioactive Garbage Scow is uncommon. All three require Engineers, so you will need several Engineers as well. Q-Continuum packs are often included in sealed deck as they are cheap. If you are playing with them, as we were in Santa Barbara, ask yourself how you will pass Security Precautions. If you can't pass it, consider going with all space missions.

James: Do you have any tips for anyone else playing in an OTSD tournament?
Jeremy: I have some tips for tournament directors. If you want to speed up your games to avoid timed wins, give each player a Q's Tent (for downloads, especially ships), Assign Mission Specialists and a Temporal Micro-Wormhole. This will allow your players to build smaller faster decks. The Assign Mission Specialists will allow for more three mission wins and jump start the game. Temporal Micro-Wormhole helps fill one skill hole by allowing a splash of an extra personnel. If your group is mostly Second Edition players, consider giving everybody a Fair Play and/or a Containment Field to make things less competitive. Don't use OTF rules in sealed deck, that is sacrilege.

Alternate Universe and Premiere packs are cheaper by weight than even newspaper. OTSD boxes can be a bit harder to find. Consider setting aside several sets of the 20 OTSD cards and re-using them. Pick up some cheap Premier starters, add the OTSD 20 and a random smattering of virtual cards in virtual packs and you have a fun, cheap sealed deck. After the event, ask for the 20 OTSD cards back and use them again. I often give my players the six missions from the Starter Deck II cards as well. That will provide enough mission selection for almost any event.

James: Did you have any special tricks in your deck, or dilemma combos that gave you an edge?
Jeremy: I can't give away all my secrets. I would say pay attention to that one AU pack. It may be more important than you think.

James: You hadn't beaten Stephen Lee in a sealed tournament before this Santa Barbara. What was it like to finally beat your nemesis?
Jeremy: Really? I hadn't noticed. That is amusing. David Holtmann is my nemesis in constructed. I think I have 2-3 losses for every win against him. I guess Steve is my sealed deck nemesis. I will have to tease him about that. Apparently going with six space missions works better than I thought...

James: You're pre-registered for two more Regionals in the coming month. Do you think you can win a third or even a fourth Regional in the same year?
Jeremy: Generally I don't like to play in the regional I run. I'm running block format this year. I may play if we have an odd number of players and the event is fairly small. Otherwise I prefer to focus on answering questions quickly and minimizing down time between rounds by not playing. I once played in a Black Rider Tour LOTR Sealed Deck I ran back in the Decipher days. I had a lot of players, and I played to make the draft pods even. That was a bad idea and gummed up the event. I learned my lesson. I prefer to sit out and make sure everybody else has a good time and that the event runs smoothly.

As for the Seattle area Regional, I don't know. That depends on who shows up. Ken Tufts is always a challenging opponent and he often brings some unusual tech. I want to get a certain abusive deck banned in OTF before World's. I may play that deck, even if it doesn't win all of its games, just to prove it is broken and get it banned. I hate the deck, so I don't really want to play it, but I want to face it at World's even less.

James: Who do you expect to be your main challengers in Seattle?
Jeremy: Ken Tufts and Roxanne. Jason Drake lives up in that area and is one of the strongest players of all time. If he shows up that would add to the competition. Our illustrious Continuing Committee writer lives up in that area, James Cream. I've never played him, as long as he doesn't play Kazon, he could be competitive. Two of my local guys are traveling up with me, Stephen Lee and Herman Chan. Good thing its not sealed deck, or Steve might beat me again. Herman often tears me up with Starfleet or pure Vidiians. We will have to wait and see.

James: Do you have anything else to add?
Jeremy: Yes, OTSD draft is fantastic. In encourage everyone to try it with your local group. Its cheap and easy to customize. Recycle the OTSD 20 to make it even cheaper.

Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, Jeremy.

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Byes

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

• Stephen Lee (grendelX), second place (bye handed down) at Rusty's Pizza
• Ben Dillon (Broshak), winner at Good Games Brisbane
• Matthew Townsend (thac0276), winner at State Library of Western Australia
• Niall Matthew (sexecutioner), winner at FanBoy3

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

• Kris Sonsteby (LORE), second place (bye handed down) at GameKnight Games and Cool Stuff
• Tobias Rausmann (garetjax), second place (bye handed down) at Kaiserpalast

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

• Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser), winner at Kaiserpalast

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.

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Deck Statistics

There were 20 First Edition players at four tournaments this week, taking the total players at First Edition Regional Championships to 71 - an average of 5.9 players per tournament. 60% of players were playing sealed deck this week so Triple Affiliations get a big bump. At constructed tournaments, Federation was the most popular, played by three of the eight players.

The best performing First Edition affiliations to date are Starfleet, averaging 11.5 victory points per tournament; Bajoran, averaging 11.0 victory points; followed by Vidiian, averaging 9.0 victory points. The worst performing affiliations are Terran Empire, averaging 6.0 victory points per tournament; followed by Non-Aligned, averaging 6.8 victory points; and then Borg, averaging 7.3 victory points.

The most popular First Edition affiliations are currently:
1.	Klingon	Used by 13 (18%) players	1 Regional win
2.	Federation	Used by 11 (16%) players	3 Regional wins
2.	Unknown?	Used by 11 (16%) players	1 Regional win
4.	Dual Affiliations	Used by 10 (14%) players
5.	Triple Affiliations	Used by 7 (10%) player	1 Regional win
6.	Ferengi	Used by 5 (7%) players	2 Regional wins
7.	Bajoran	Used by 3 (4%) players	1 Regional win
7.	Borg	Used by 3 (4%) players
7.	Hirogen	Used by 3 (4%) players	1 Regional win
10.	Romulan	Used by 2 (3%) players	1 Regional win
10.	Starfleet	Used by 2 (3%) players	1 Regional win
12.	Cardassian	Used by 1 (1%) player

There were 13 players at two Second Edition tournaments this week, taking the total players at Second Edition Regional Championships to 181 - an average of 7.5 players per tournament. Voyager/Equinox decks have seen a recent surge in use, winning five of the last eight Regionals. In terms of Regional wins, it is now the best performing affiliation. Also spotted at this week's two Regionals were three Dominion decks, leap-frogging them above Bajoran and Non-Aligned at the bottom of the usage table.

The best performing Second Edition affiliations to date are Earth Space 9, averaging 12.8 victory points per tournament; followed by Bajoran and Voyager/Equiniox, both averaging 12.6 victory points each. The worst performing affiliations are Dominion, averaging 9.2 victory points per tournament; followed by Non-Aligned, averaging 9.4 victory points; and then Deep Space 9 and Maquis, both averaging 9.5 victory points.

The most popular Second Edition affiliations are currently:
1.	Next Generation	Used by 37 (20%) players	4 Regional wins
2.	Voyager/Equinox	Used by 16 (9%) players	6 Regional wins
3.	Klingon	Used by 15 (8%) players	2 Regional wins
4.	Starfleet	Used by 14 (8%) players	2 Regional wins
4.	Original Series	Used by 14 (8%) players	2 Regional wins
4.	Dual Affiliations	Used by 14 (8%) players
7.	Cardassian	Used by 12 (7%) players	1 Regional win
8.	Deep Space 9	Used by 10 (6%) players
8.	Romulan	Used by 10 (6%) players	2 Regional wins
10.	Borg	Used by 7 (4%) players	3 Regional wins
10.	Ferengi	Used by 7 (4%) players
12.	Dominion	Used by 5 (3%) playerss
12.	Earth Space 9	Used by 5 (3%) players
12.	Maquis	Used by 5 (3%) players	1 Regional win
15.	Bajoran	Used by 4 (2%) players
16.	Non-Aligned	Used by 3 (2%) players	1 Regional win
17.	Terok Nor	Used by 1 (1%) player
17.	Triple Affiliations	Used by 1 (1%) player
17.	Unknown?	Used by 1 (1%) player

There were 4 players at one Tribbles tournament this week, taking the total players at Tribbles Regional Championships to 118 - an average of 6.6 players per tournament. Excluding preliminary heats, a total of 32,705,341 Tribbles have been scored to date, an average of 277,164 Tribbles per player. Tribbles players are the most reluctant to enter their decks of all the three games supported by the Continuing Committee. Players are reminded that they can help their tournament director out by adding their own deck list to the tournament results. Just create your deck in the Tribbles deck builder and save it. Then go to the tournament results and click on the icon next to your name to add your deck. The process is really simple, and should only take five minutes.

The most popular Tribbles powers in each deck are:
1.	Unknown?	Used by 23 (20%) players	4 Regional wins
2.	Go	Used by 22 (19%) players	5 Regional wins
3.	Bonus	Used by 15 (13%) players	2 Regional wins
4.	Rescue	Used by 12 (10%) players
5.	Poison	Used by 10 (9%) players
6.	Clone	Used by 5 (4%) players	1 Regional win
7.	Freeze	Used by 4 (3%) players
7.	Discard	Used by 4 (3%) players	1 Regional win
9.	Tally	Used by 3 (3%) players	1 Regional win
10.	IDIC	Used by 2 (2%) players
10.	Clone/Go/Utilize	Used by 2 (2%) players	1 Regional win
10.	Clone/Go/IDIC/Recycle/Safety	Used by 2 (2%) players
13.	Battle	Used by 1 (1%) player
13.	Draw	Used by 1 (1%) player
13.	Masaka	Used by 1 (1%) player
13.	Replay	Used by 1 (1%) player
13.	Reverse	Used by 1 (1%) player
13.	Safety	Used by 1 (1%) player
13.	Scan	Used by 1 (1%) player
13.	Time Warp	Used by 1 (1%) player
13.	Clone/Score	Used by 1 (1%) player	1 Regional win
13.	Copy/Freeze	Used by 1 (1%) player
13.	Copy/Replay	Used by 1 (1%) player	1 Regional win
13.	Discard/Go	Used by 1 (1%) player	1 Regional win
13.	Discard/Recycle	Used by 1 (1%) player
13.	Go/Utilize	Used by 1 (1%) player

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Predictions

James' Accuracy	Kris' Accuracy	Public Predictors' Accuracy
19/54 (35%)	16/54 (30%)	15/54 (28%)

A late result from week 7 that Kris, Tyler and I predicted correctly has adjusted the figures a little, with Tyler's accurancy rising from 50% to 55%. Matthew Hayes (karonofborg13) stepped up to last week's challenge, and he beat both Kris and me. His three correct predictions put him at second place in the public predictors league table. Unfortunately, this week's interviewee, Jeremy Commandeur (Commandeur), responded too late to make any predictions.

Past Public Predictors
Week 6 (b)	Tyler Fultz (DJstormtrooper)	6/11 (55%)
Week 7	Matthew Hayes (karonofborg13)	3/7 (43%)
Week 3	Ben Hosp (bhosp)	2/5 (40%)
Week 6 (a)	Jim Sharp (jss_hobbie)	2/10 (20%)
Week 5	Michael Van Breemen (The Ninja Scot)	3/16 (19%)
Week 4	Shane Brierley (Shanebrier)	1/8 (13%)
Week 1	Will Hoskin (Gumbo)	0/3 (0%)
Week 2	Kenneth Tufts (Worf Son of Mogh)	0/4 (0%)

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Week 8 Preview

The complete schedule can be found in the article 2012 Regional Championships Schedule. There are two Regional tournaments this week:

Saturday 19th May		Sunday 20th May
Second Edition (Standard) Oliver's Sickbay Kurt-Weill-Strasse 41 D-06844, Dessau Germany [Discuss] [Pre-register]	Second Edition (Standard) Buck Creek Township Fire Department Community Room 5809 West Airport Boulevard Greenfield, IN 46140 United States [Discuss] [Pre-register]

Oliver's Sickbay: This is the third year this Second Edition Vandros IV Regional has been organized. There were five players two years ago, eight players last year, and four players have pre-registered for this year's event so far. There are only 14 players in the world with a rating over 1800, and two of them will be playing on Saturday. Sebastian Kirstein (Caretaker's Guest) has two Regional wins to his name, but his last title came three years ago. Since the European Continentals last year, Sebastian has won two of the three tournaments he has played in. By comparison, Tobias Rausmann (garetjax) has played 13 local tournaments in the same time frame, winning five of them. He also has five Regional titles, two National Championships and a World Championship under his belt. Both players have very similar winning records: Sebastian's 71% versus Tobias' 72%, but Tobias has played more than twice the number of games that Sebastian has. I think this experience will be the determining factor. Tobias to win.

Kris: Sebastian Kirstein to win. Why? Not only does he win three out of every four brawls he participates in, the man's known around Dachau for bringing red (Klingon) and make all of his opponents personnel dead. Red you're dead, Gorilla, red you're dead!

Past Regional results at Oliver's Sickbay:
2011, won by Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser) playing Original Series.
2010, won by Christian Zipper (zippercommander) playing Borg.
2009, not held.
2008, not held.

Buck Creek Township Fire Department: The inaugural Qo'noS Regional in Greenfield, Indiana takes place this weekend. Among the prizes on offer are a set of the Dangerous Mission foils, a Genesis collection and an Adversaries Anthology. Eleven players have pre-registered at the time of writing, so it looks set to become the fourth highest (at least) attended Regional this year. Besides a sealed tournament held in January, there are no past Second Edition events at this venue to look at for form. Several of the pre-registered players did participate at the Illinois Regional in April, so that helps a little. Al Schaefer (ltkettch17) won that day, ahead of Corbin Johnson (Corbinq27) and then Casey Wickum (MrCub21). Their chief challenger will be Joel Skon (RedAlucard), who won the Ohio Regional two weeks ago. Many of the contenders have win percentages in the region of 50-60%. The player at the top of the pile is Al Schaefer, with a 65% winning record; so he is my pick to win.

Kris: Casey Wickum to win. Why? The Wizard is a devout student of the game who bested me in a #1 contender match a few months back at Nationals West. And while he's never tasted Regional Gold, my sources tell me that all the homework he's done in the past is set to pay off this Saturday.

There are no past Second Edition Regional results at Buck Creek Township Fire Department.

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Next Week

A review of the two results from week 8, an interview with a winning player, more statistics, and a preview of the eight Regional Championships taking place in week 9.

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