2008 World Championships Tournament Report, Part 2

by James "RedDwarf" Hoskin, Staff Writer

28th August 2008

This is part two of James Hoskin's report. You can read part one here.

Day 1, Round 6 vs. Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser)
Deck: Johannes was playing a Bajoran Integrity deck designed to complete missions with minimal personnel. It was similar to John Corbett’s deck, but didn’t appear to have any support from the Orion Slave Girls. You can read his decklist here (once it has been entered).
Game Summary: Johannes came into this game undefeated, and I had just had my confidence knocked by the loss to Michael van Breemen, so I wasn't looking forward to facing another Borg deck (which I assumed Johannes would be playing.) I was pleasantly surprised to sit down and see Bajor (Gift of the Prophets) on the table. That meant my key dilemmas of Tactical Disadvantage and Gorgan would be much more likely to work for me. Johannes got off to a quicker start than me, and moved to attempt Investigate Maquis Activity with just four personnel. At this point, my dilemma pile decided to have some fun with me and conspired to make sure the first dilemma I drew was Necessary Execution. I did manage to stop the attempt though, as I did for his attempt on the next turn as well. I made my first mission attempt shortly afterwards. A Hard Time followed by Gomtuu Shock Wave was enough to stop me. Especially considering Hard Time removed my only source of Diplomacy – Talak'talan (Keen Third) – from the attempt. The following turn, I drew Dominion Hierarchy and played Weyoun (Instrument of the Founders). I knew that I could now overcome Gomtuu Shock Wave, should I face it, and hoped that Johannes would give me another copy to face. He did, and I was able to cheat my way past it to complete the mission. While I was busy using the U.S.S. Defiant (Commandeered Warship) to move dilemmas and then complete Survey New World, Johannes completed his two Planet missions. He then used the order on Krim (Thoughtful Tactician) to remove all copies of Tactical Disadvantage from my dilemma pile. He assumed they were removed from the game, but I pointed out that they only get placed under a completed mission. This was excellent for me because I had two copies of The Manheim Effect in my core and could gain access to the dilemmas whenever I wanted. Unfortunately for me, the turn before Johannes did this I had accidentally played the last ship I had in my hand. This was such a huge mistake on my part, because it meant that I couldn't' use either of my two key dilemmas (the other being Gorgan). Fortunately, I drew Distress Call and was able to stop the attempt. The following turn, I drew cards looking for a ship, but didn't get one. I wasn't too worried though, because I knew that I could use the U.S.S. Defiant to have four overcome dilemmas beneath my final mission. I only needed five personnel to compete it, and Johannes was unable to top-deck me.
Moment to Remember: I should maybe have been slightly more cautious with regard to my final attempt. I found out later that Johannes had top-decked two dilemmas when he was playing Michael van Breemen, and that had helped him to win their game. I wouldn't have been in that situation if I had just remembered to keep a ship or two in my hand. That is now item number two on my mental list after legally changing my name to James "RedDwarf" Hoskin.
Game Result: Full Win 100-65
Tournament Standing: 5 wins, 1 loss.

Day 1, Round 7 vs. Neil Timmons (ntimmons)
Deck: Neil was playing his Klingon battle deck. From my perspective, it looked like it was designed to massacre the opponent with the dilemma pile and then finish them off with Kruge (Instinctive Commander). It would then try to complete missions as an afterthought. You can read his decklist here (once it has been entered).
Game Summary: Neil had played a Klingon battle deck at the North American Continentals, so I had an idea as to what to expect when I sat down and saw his missions. I tried desperately to destroy any event he played that would allow him to draw extra dilemmas. Both Complications and Endangered were prevented or destroyed, but Neil had played his event download engine – Mara (Science Officer) – on the first turn, and was able to download another if he wanted. Mara's cost of five also allowed him to play These Are the Voyages to draw through a good portion of his deck and find the cards he needed. Eventually, I decided to bite the bullet and leave my Headquarters. I attempted Rescue Prisoners of War with eight personnel, but Neil destroyed a Complications to draw eleven dilemmas. He then proceeded to use two copies of Unexpected Difficulties to find the dilemma combination that he wanted. That turned out to be Tragic Turn followed by Unbelievable Emergency and then Don't Let It End This Way. The dust settled with only three deaths for me, but that was before Neil came over to battle. Ferocity meant another death and Kruge rounded things off by capturing my remaining personnel and, ironically, commandeering my U.S.S. Defiant (Commandeered Warship). Neil's deck was designed to complete Commandeer Prototype and download the same U.S.S. Defiant, so I had basically bypassed this part of his strategy for him. While I was playing another ship and more personnel, Neil started attempting his missions. I thought I had slowed him at Commandeer Prototype when I destroyed his Warrior's Birthright, but Mara came to the rescue and he just downloaded another. I then used The Trial Never Ended and Tactical Disadvantage to hold him off for several turns, but he just kept playing more personnel to cover those that I had killed. Eventually, he completed the mission and used the U.S.S. Defiant to move two of the five overcome dilemmas to his next mission - Rescue Prisoners. When he next attempted it, I used all three copies of The Manheim Effect in my core to remove the remaining three overcome dilemmas at Commandeer Prototype, just to nullify the U.S.S. Defiant's ability. If Neil wanted the win, I was going to make him face my dilemmas! By this point, I had another ship in play, so I decided to attempt Rescue Prisoners of War again. Neil would have been only able to draw one dilemma, but he destroyed two copies of Endangered to draw seven in total. With the Tragic Turn already on the mission, another group of personnel was killed. To make things worse, Neil then interrupted his mission attempting, to come over and commandeer my second ship with Kruge. That left me with only three playable personnel in my deck, and Neil won the game shortly afterwards.
Moment to Remember: Neil likes to use Tragic Turn. I remember other players mentioning this on the Team Jersey message boards. With hindsight, I would have added Ohhhh! Nothing Happened! to my deck to try and remove them from his dilemma pile before he could use them against me.
Game Result: Full loss 0-100
Tournament Standing: 5 wins, 2 losses.

Day 1, Round 8 vs. Kevin Jaeger (Hoss-Drone)
Deck: Kevin was playing a The Next Generation deck that used Disadvantage Into Advantage to play personnel for reduced cost. Personnel worthy of mention include Worf (Security Detail Leader) to look at the top cards of an opponent's dilemma pile, and James T. Kirk (Original Thinker) to prevent and overcome dilemmas. You can read Kevin's decklist here (once it has been entered).
Game Summary: My opening hand for this game was good but it was also bad. It was good in that it had lots of personnel, but it was bad in that there was only one ship, so I would not immediately be able to use Tactical Disadvantage or even Gorgan. I began by playing my personnel, and the U.S.S. Defiant (Commandeered Warship), hoping that I would quickly draw into more ships. They never materialized, but Kevin made his first mission attempt at Investigate Maquis Activity. I stopped his team of four personnel with Hard Time, and then went on to get stopped myself on my first attempt. The following turn, Kevin attempted with six personnel, so I destroyed two copies of Unexpected Difficulties to find a Necessary Execution and kill two of his personnel. On my turn, I completed Rescue Prisoners of War and then made a huge error. I was planning my next turn in my head and thought that I had another ship in hand, so I dropped off all but three of my personnel at my headquarters and then returned on the U.S.S. Defiant to move dilemmas. With Kevin not having any luck at his planet mission, he moved to a space mission to try his luck there. Unfortunately, when picking dilemmas, I forgot that he had just played James T. Kirk (Original Thinker) that turn. It was only when I placed the two dilemmas down, that Kevin announced that he was not using Kirk on the first dilemma. Fortunately for me, Agonizing Encounter stopped Kirk and one other, and then Instigate Dissension stopped two more personnel. That wasn't enough though, as Kevin's personnel could still complete the mission. On my turn, I quickly realized my error from the previous turn, but my draw deck looked kindly on me. The first couple of cards I drew included an At What Cost? and a Dominion Battleship, so I was able to play a second ship that turn after all. That meant that I could use the Order on the U.S.S. Defiant again, and then complete Survey New World with just four Jem'Hadar. On Kevin's next turn, he returned to Investigate Maquis Activity. This time, I remembered Kirk was in play and played two dilemmas. Once again, Kevin decided not to use Kirk on the first dilemma, and Excalbian Drama stopped his personnel. My deck was now fully up and running. I moved two overcome dilemmas to The Siege of AR-558, and then attempted with eight personnel. Kevin played Shocking Betrayal and then Lawgivers, but I had enough skill redundancy to complete the mission regardless of who was stopped.
Moment to Remember: Kevin's trick was to play two or three copies of Disadvantage Into Advantage, before playing James T. Kirk for a highly-reduced cost. He would then use the order on the U.S.S. Enterprise-E (Flagship of the Federation) to return them (and my events) back to their respective owners' hands. Not only was he playing cheap personnel but he was removing events from his opponent's core as well. Fantastic!
Game Result: Full win 100-40
Tournament Standing: 6 wins, 2 losses.

Phew. After eight rounds of play, lasting what seemed like forever, we were finished. That wasn’t the end of the day though, because head judge Mr. Keller then took over an hour to work out the final results. The placings were important for the bracket for Day Two, but whatever electronic system he was using couldn’t cope with the first and second round byes earned in the Continental Championships. Eventually, he returned to the room and announced the results. Neil Timmons, playing his Klingon battle deck, placed first, and I ended up in fifth place. Will wants me to tell everyone that he finished in tenth place out of the 29 players. Every player managed at least one victory, and no one went undefeated. You can see the final Day One standings here.

Saturday 16th August

The Day Two bracket had been made available the previous evening, and I knew that I would start off by playing twelfth seed Steve Rotz. He played a Borg deck on Day One. If I could beat Steve, I was due to play either fourth seed Michael van Breemen or thirteenth seed Al Schaefer. I assumed Michael would win with his Mot and Goval deck, so I needed to be able to counter that. If I then qualified for the semi-finals, I could have played any one of four players, but first seed Neil Timmons looked a big threat with his Klingon battle deck.

My Dominion deck looked to be my best bet for Day Two. I wasn't sure that my Voyager deck could beat Michael, and I was certain that it would suffer at the hands of Kruge if I played Neil. The only changes I made from Day One were to add three copies of Ohhhh! Nothing Happened! to the deck, to try and counter Neil's Tragic Turn dilemma pile. As an additional bonus, this one-cost event would also help me when I wanted to play Turan'Ekan. You can read my Day Two decklist here.

Day 2, Top 16 Match vs. Steve Rotz (YeahToast)
Deck: Much like me, Steve seemed to be playing with the same deck that he used in Day One. It was a Borg deck that tried to complete missions. The only hint of assimilation came from the mission Assimilate Resistance. You can read his decklist here.
Game 1 Summary: This game, and the whole match in fact, came down to one dilemma: The Dreamer and the Dream. In this first game, I used it twice to discard Steve's hand. Both times he discarded more than seven cards. Of more importance (to me) was that he discarded two copies of Adapt the first time. I quickly removed them from his discard pile with Dukat (Pah-Wraith Puppet), so that he would not be able to retrieve them and then cause havoc with my dilemma pile. This meant that I was able to stop Steve multiple times with both Tactical Disadvantage and Gorgan, while I used the U.S.S. Defiant (Commandeered Warship) to move overcome dilemmas from mission to mission.
Game 1 Result: Win 100-35
Game 2 Summary: In this game, Steve hit me with The Dreamer and the Dream at the worst possible time. I discarded four ships from my hand. With another ship already in play, I then struggled to draw one of the three remaining ships in my deck for several turns. This nullified my best dilemmas, and Steve was able to use a combination of the Annexation Drone and At What Cost? to speed his deck up considerably. Once I had completed my first mission, I tried using two copies of At What Cost? myself, but they didn't really help. In fact, they ended up losing me the game, because once Steve and I had both completed our second missions, we were both almost decked. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't complete my third mission by the time my deck ran out and, as Steve's deck was also exhausted, I lost the game by ten points.
Game 2 Result: Loss 60-70
Game 3 Summary: The third game also featured the use of The Dreamer and the Dream. This time though, we both ended up losing cards to it. Fortunately for me, I didn't lose too much, and I was able to recover with some ships in hand within two turns. We were both completing missions and using At What Cost? for speed, but the U.S.S. Defiant turned out to be the key. I could move dilemmas around, and was able to complete my third mission shortly after Steve completed his second.
Game 3 Result: Win 100-65
Moment to Forget: At some point during the third game, I had to take a bathroom break. At the time I remember thinking “is this it? Have I finally grown so old that I can't control my bladder any more? Am I to never leave my house again?” My humble apologies to Steve for interrupting the game, and therefore mental note number two: Don't drink too much on the morning of a big tournament.
Moment to Remember: As you can tell from this report, I can't remember much about these games. This is because as soon as I finished the final game, I was paired up for my next round and didn't have time to write any notes. This means that this game's report isn't as detailed as I would have liked. I have dutifully made a mental note to make more notes next time.
Match Result: 2 wins and 1 loss sees me progress to the next round.

Day 2, Quarter-Final vs. Michael van Breemen (The Ninja Scot)
Note: There doesn't appear to be a picture of Michael in the Photo Gallery. The picture to the right, may or may not be Michael in disguise!
Deck: As I suspected, Michael was also playing a similar deck to what he had used on the previous day. He had made some changes though. Geordi La Forge (Retired Engineer) had been replaced with Kosinski (Arrogant Engineer) and the mission selection was altered to reflect the different skills Mot (The Barber) could gain with Picking Up the Basics. The missions were now easier and required fewer events discarded for Goval (Follower of the One), but Michael needed to complete all four of them to win the game. You can read his decklist here.
Game 1 Summary: Knowing how to counter Michael's deck, and being able to counter it, are two totally different things. In this first game, I didn't bother playing any personnel or ships. Instead, I was just drawing through my deck looking for Unexpected Difficulties, Machinations and my event/interrupt nullification. Fortunately, I was able to play Machinations and then prevent all of Michael's attempts to remove it with One-Upsmanship. That meant that I could just wait for Michael to discard all the events for his first mission and then stop him at his second mission by destroying Machinations for either Excalbian Drama or Fesarius Bluff. This trick worked a treat, and I eventually completed two missions for the win.
Game 1 Result: Win 70-30
Game 2 Summary: I tried using the same tactic in this game, but Michael's deck was just much faster this time around. I was able to nullify two copies of One-Upsmanship, but Michael had all three in hand and was able to shuffle my Machinations back into my deck. He then completed all four missions and had won the game in about ten minutes.
Game 2 Result: Loss 0-100
Game 3 Summary: I had a much better draw in the third and final game. Within three turns, I had four ways in my hand to prevent an event/interrupt. I then made a potentially fatal decision. Instead of waiting to nullify One-Upsmanship, I decided to destroy all three copies of Picking Up the Basics instead. It didn't occur to me that Michael could just send Kosinski along with Mot and Goval, and he would still have all of the skills he needed to complete his missions. At his first attempt, I drew and played Gorgan, so Michael didn't discard any events for Goval. He was then able to complete the mission the following turn. Now that the events had actually been discarded, I had to make sure that I could stop one of his next three attempts. I was able to do this at his second mission, and I thought that would mean the end of the game. However, Michael began his next turn by sending all four personnel he had in play to attempt his missions. The fourth personnel – Rachel Garrett (Displaced Captain) – gave me an extra dilemma to draw, and would be Michael's eventual downfall. I used a just-played Machinations to play Preventative Repercussions against his four personnel. They only had a combined cost of four, so three of them were killed and Michael's game was over. All I needed to do was complete two of my missions, and I still had a large portion of my draw deck remaining. Despite Michael's best efforts, he couldn't hold me off forever, and once I had some overcome dilemmas, I was able to move them around to the missions where I needed them.
Game 3 Result: Win 100-55
Moment to Remember: These three games were all very memorable because of my enforced style of play. I would start by drawing through as much of my deck as possible trying to find the cards I needed. With two equipment, two Jem'Hadar and a Machinations in play, and two copies each of Grav-Plating Trap and Our Death is Glory To the Founders in my hand, I could stop Michael's deck. Once these cards were set up, then I could just play my deck as normal and hope I didn't get hit with another copy of The Dreamer and the Dream.
Match Result: 2 wins and 1 loss puts me in the semi-finals.

Day 2, Semi-Final vs. Kevin Jaeger (Hoss-Drone)
Deck: Kevin was also playing the same deck to that which he had used in Day One. It was a The Next Generation deck that used Disadvantage Into Advantage to play James T. Kirk (Original Thinker) for a reduced cost. You can read his decklist here.
Game 1 Summary: This game was over very quickly because I made one simple error – twice! When Kevin made his first mission attempt at Investigate Maquis Activity, I totally forgot that he had already played James T. Kirk. By returning him to hand he was able to keep enough personnel unstopped to compete the mission that turn. He then played him again the next turn and tried attempting a space mission. I promptly forgot he had re-played James T. Kirk and only gave his personnel one dilemma to face. Naturally that was Kirk'ed and I was two missions down before I had even left my headquarters. I did manage to stop Kevin for a couple of turns at his third mission, while at the same time being stopped twice at Rescue Prisoners of War by Gomtuu Shock Wave, but I was just too far behind to have a chance at winning this game.
Game 1 Result: Loss 0-100
Game 2 Summary: Losing a game by 100 points can be very demoralizing in a match play situation. Before game two, I was aware that I appeared to be taking things much more seriously. In actual fact, I was just chanting the same thing over and over in my head “Kirk is in play... Kirk is in play.” It didn't matter to me that the game hadn't actually started yet, I was just reminding myself that he could be in play once we started. I began the game with one of my better opening hands and was able to play Friction on the second turn. With the personnel I had in play after a few turns, I knew that I couldn't overcome Gomtuu Shock Wave. After removing one copy from Kevin's dilemma pile with Ohhhh! Nothing Happened!, I decided to attempt a planet mission first. My first attempt was stopped at Survey New World, but I was able to complete it the following turn. Meanwhile, I was having a much easier time of stopping Kevin's personnel at Investigate Maquis Activity when James T. Kirk was not in play. In fact, I was able to surgically remove all of his Diplomacy personnel with Hard Time and The Caretaker's "Guests". With Friction in my core, any personnel that I removed would not return to the mission for two turns. Kevin hadn't drawn Luther Sloan (Man of Secrets) yet, so his only event destruction came from the U.S.S. Enterprise-E (Flagship of the Federation). Even then, I got to decide which of my events were returned to my hand, and Friction wasn't going to be one of them. Having used my second copy of Ohhhh! Nothing Happened! to remove another Gomtuu Shock Wave from Kevin's dilemma pile, I ventured back to my space mission. Kevin played The Caretaker's "Guests" and removed Weyoun (Instrument of the Founders) from the attempt. That left me with a big decision. I could complete the mission there and then with the four remaining personnel, but I would have to use the ability on Ikat'ika (Honorable Warrior). If I did, he would be killed at the end of the turn, and my ship would be destaffed. With six personnel at my Headquarters and another ship in hand, this was an acceptable risk, so I did it. On my next turn, I then forgot the U.S.S. Defiant was destaffed and played more personnel. D'oh! Fortunately, I was still holding Kevin at his first mission, so I just waited a turn and played it at the next opportunity. I then moved to my final mission and Kevin's dilemma pile didn't offer him much to stop me. He conceded, and we moved on to the third game.
Game 2 Result: Win 100-5
Game 3 Summary: With both previous games swinging in favour of one player, I was really looking forward to this final game. That all changed on the second turn though, when Kevin played James T. Kirk. This was then followed-up by quite a few personnel with either Diplomacy or Leadership, as required by Investigate Maquis Activity. I began to think that I wouldn't be able to remove mission skills like I did in the previous game, and this was the case. I held Kevin for a couple of attempts, but was having to use extra dilemmas because of Kirk. Eventually, he completed the mission and then quickly did the same in space. My mission attempts were not going as well. In fact, they hadn't started at this point. Every turn, the only personnel I drew seemed to be a duplicate of unique personnel I had already played. After a few turns of me stopping Kevin at Eliminate Harvesters, I finally left my Headquarters and tried to play catch up, but Kevin stopped me easily at Rescue Prisoners of War. There were now six dilemmas overcome beneath Kevin's third mission, but I was fairly sure that I had removed all of his Medical personnel from play. With twelve personnel to choose from, Kevin made two groups and sent the first group of six to attempt. I still had an Inferiority in his core and a The Manheim Effect in my core. I also had one copy of The Caretaker's "Guests" overcome at one of Kevin's missions, so I knew that I could stop one attempt. I decided the first team was a bluff and called Kevin on it. It was, so they were stopped and he sent the second group down. I took a gamble and decided this was a bluff as well. Fortunately, it was! That gave me another turn at least. I didn't make the most of that turn, though. I still only had seven personnel in play, and Kevin was able to stop my mission attempt with ease. On his previous turn, Kevin had played Katherine Pulaski (Chief Medical Officer), so I knew that he had one Medical personnel this turn. Having flown to Earth to pick her up, he returned and made two groups again. Once again, I called the bluff on the first attempt and didn't use The Manheim Effect. It then came down to the second attempt. I noticed that Kevin had left one personnel aboard his ship, and for some reason I thought this was Katherine Pulaski. I called his bluff for the fourth time, but it wasn't a bluff. Kevin won the game.
Game 3 Result: Loss 5-100
Moment to Remember: Before this game started, Kevin and I joked that the loser would have to write the tournament report. With three members of the writing team (Kevin, Johannes and myself) in the semi-finals, we knew that Darren Lacoste (the head of the writing team) would want some good material from all of us. I keep telling myself that I was planning to write this report anyway and that decision did not have an effect on the outcome of the semi-final.
Match Result: 1 win and 2 losses sees me eliminated.

Following this match, and the conclusion of the all-Borg semi-final between Johannes Klarhauser and Jared Hoffman, someone decided it would be a good time to take some photos. I don't like having my photo taken at the best of times, so I'll be perfectly honest and say that I really wasn't in the mood, having just lost the semi-final match for the second year running. Take a look at the picture on the right and guess which two players had just made the final...

While Kevin and Johannes faced-off in the final, I had little to do but watch them. I could have written a report of their game, but my eyes glazed over at some point, so I'd really like to know what actually went on. I, for one, will be expecting a fantastic tournament report from one (or both) of them.

Edit: Apparently, Kevin beat Johannes in the final by two games to one. Congratulations Kevin and commiserations Johannes.

You can see the completed Day Two tournament bracket here.

Sunday 17th August

Let's face it. It is the World Championships that matter. No one from outside of New Jersey really cares about the team championships. Michael van Breemen, Will and I teamed up to form "Team Schmoke and a Pancake" (named after the theme of the Austin Powers world championships held the previous night.) Each of us managed a wholly-unrespectable 'one win in three games.' In fact, one of those wins was technically a bye. We didn't step up and perform at all, even though we were all using our decks that served us so well in Day One of the World Championships. That's about all that needs saying about this tournament. You can see the final standings here.

And so, The Star Trek CCG World Championships were over for another year. Will and I said our goodbyes and headed to the exhibitor room for some last-minute shopping. Fully laden, we then returned to our hotel room to try and figure out how we were going to pack everything we had just bought into our bags. Several hours later, and having discarded some clothes, we succeeded. All that remained to do was to catch our flights home. Aside from the English stewardess (on the internal Delta connection) spending the entire flight reminiscing about England with us, the trip home was uneventful.

See you all next year!

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