The Road to Worlds 2011, Week 1

by James Hoskin, Director of Organized Play

31st March 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.

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 1 Preview

The complete schedule can be found in the article Regional Championships Series 2011 Schedule. There are three Regional tournaments this week:

Legion Comics: Attendance at this Cardassia Regional has varied in recent years. Three years ago, 13 players participated. Two years ago, the Regional wasn't held. Last year, just four players joined in. Recent tournaments at the venue have attracted between four and six players so, even though just one player has pre-registered, we can probably expect the same sort of numbers again this year. Nathan Wineinger (Naetor) and Kyle Matusevic (CrimsonTide) have dominated this playgroup for the last six months. Nathan has won five of the last eight tournaments, playing Romulan, Borg, Maquis (twice) and Cardassian decks; while Kyle has won the two most recent tournament playing Ferengi / Non-Aligned. It would be a pretty safe bet to back one of these two players to win this year. My choice is Nathan.

Past Regional results at Legion Comics:
2010, won by Mike Gillespie (durgforaday) playing Deep Space 9.
2009, not held.
2008, won by Kyle Matusevic (CrimsonTide) playing Next Generation.

Paradox Comics and Cards: The local playgroup for this Andoria Regional run weekly tournaments averaging between four and eight players each time. Throw in past attendances of nine players in 2008, seven players in 2009 and 14 players in 2010; and add the five players already pre-registered; and indicators point to a healthy attendance in Fargo on Saturday. In the past month, five different players have won tournaments at the venue, but the player on form is Jody Lamb (joedlaw). Jody won the two most recent tournaments playing Klingon and Starfleet. Also coming into this tournament on the back of two tournament wins is last year's champion Kris Sonsteby (LORE). Klingon and Borg were his decks of choice. My pick for this tournament is fellow writer, Kris.

Past Regional results at Paradox Comics and Cards:
2010, won by Kris Sonsteby (LORE) playing Next Generation.
2009, won by Barry Windschitl (JamesValEson) playing Borg.
2008, won by Keith Morris (Foreman) playing Voyager.

Tower of Games: With a small playgroup of four to six regular players, you could be forgiven for expecting a low turnout at this Sector 001 Regional. However, players frequently travel in for this tournament. Past years have seen attendances of twelve, eleven and nine players; and eight players have pre-registered so far; so signs for this year are looking good. A wide variety of decks are played at this venue, and a wide variety of players win tournaments here. So much so, that it is hard to predict a winner. Even though reigning 2010 North American Continentals Champion Ben Hosp (bhosp) is undefeated in four straight tournaments, my pick to win is Patrick Krentz (PK of VA). Patrick has won 19 of the 21 tournaments he has played in the Continuing Committee-era, and has a 95% winning record in constructed games. I can't look past him for a winner of this tournament.

Past Regional results at Tower of Games:
2010, won by Scott Blauvelt (boldarkstorm) playing Borg.
2009, won by Neil Timmons (ntimmons) playing Klingon.
2008, won by John Corbett (KillerB) playing Next Generation.

Byes

To date, 34 byes to the 2011 Continental and World Championships have been awarded. The list of recipients can be found here. As with last year, Regional Championships award one Day One Round One Continental Championships bye for every ten players in attendance. Should the recipient of a bye already have one, it will trickle down to the next eligible player.

Rules and Expectations for Regional Championships in 2011

Significant changes have been made to the Organized Play Guide. Tournament directors and players alike should familiarise themselves with this document. Please see the article Big Changes to Organized Play for a description of the changes and a link to download the new Organized Play Guide.

Rules specific to this year's Regional Championship can be found in this post 2011 Regionals: Rules and Expectations. Again, tournament directors and players are encourage to read this information.

Next Week

A review of the three results from week one, and a preview of the six Regional Championships taking place in week two.

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