Kris Sonsteby (LORE) Tournament Report - 1E - Andoria Regional 2016-04-17 - 11:30 AM If You Hit the Wrong Note... We'll All B Flat! Introduction MinnMania 2000 plus 16 kicked into overdrive as the assembled Frozen Chosen reconvened at FFG for the 1E portion of the weekend's events. In what was easily the densest Regional Championship field thus far, I turned to all out speed in an effort to bring glory to the Empire once more. Round 1 Matthew Hayes FW (+45) The Animal was experimenting with Terran Empire, and tagged me with an Altonian Brain Teaser at Distress Mission to force me into a 3-mission win. However, as he was trying in vain to pass a Quantum Incursions in space, I cleared out Qo'noS and then blew through a Dead End combo at Wormhole Negotiations to win it. FW 100-55. Round 2 Jon Carter FW (+100)View opponent's ReportView original Report Dr. Death was dealing Romulan All-Stars, and set himself up to steal Wormhole Negotiations only to discover that I had HQ: Defensive Measures. Drilling down to a Scientific Method early before cycling my hand twice via Masaka Transformations, I wrapped up this warp speed encounter with the rules guru on turn 6. FW 100-0. I seed thinking i can steel wormhole, then remember defensive measures is a thing. because of that the spaceline is a mess and the dileamms dont slow down Kris. He wins before i can ever really get in gear. Round 3 Kevin Jaeger FW (+100)View opponent's ReportView original Report Big Kev was working KCA battle, but didn't have an answer for duplicated missions nor speed decks intent on attempting on turn 2. Clearing a Quantum Incursions early thanks to Suna and K'chiQ, I then blew through my cobbled together combo at Wormhole Negotiations to seal the surprise shutout before he could get rolling. FW 100-0. I made a lot and I mean of lot of bad decisions during the seed phase. You cant do that against Kris and hope to win. He exploited my mistakes perfectly and got the perfect 100-0 sweep score. We duped Wormhole negotiations, something I never expected and therefore didn't have a plan for and my cobbled together plan just ended up sucking. On the drive home I realized what I should have done that would put me in the game. Live and learn. Round 4 Barry Windschitl FW (+45)View opponent's ReportView original Report The Genius was also trying out Terran Empire, but ran in fear of an Edo Probe only to find a Friendly Fire for his troubles. Staked to a two turn countdown, I knocked out Reported Activity shortly before scoring 10 points via Arbiter of Succession to leap frog the Lack of Preparation I had found at Pegasus Search. FW 100-55. Kris was playing a Klingon Two-Mission Win deck, and my dilemma combos couldn't hold back the early onslaught. He was held off for a couple turns at his first mission, but soon able to rack up 50 points with Numerous mission specialists. An Edo probe sent me to another mission with a (likely) retooled combo, including a Friendly Fire lead into by Flying Flapjacks. While I was keeping busy until that countdown ran out, Kris was busy loosing points to LoP before hitting a dead end. I then got my 55 points (which Kris said was only the Second time that day that someone got points against him), and bounced off the rest of combo at the Edo Probe mission (which it turns out I've been using wrong all these years as it Doesn't go on the mission, but back under. Different method, Same result, so live and learn). Kris was then able to have one Warrior bitch-slap another to get the points to pass Dead End, walk through the last dilemma, and solve for the win. Revenge was Yous today. Good Game, Kris. Closing Thoughts Claiming Regional gold in an event starring 3 players in the top 10 in rating plus a World's runner-up is no small feat, and ranks high among my STCCG accomplishments. With my personal off-season looming just over the horizon, I am proud to have ended this year's competitive run on such a high note.