The Road to Worlds 2012, Week 3

by James Hoskin, Director of Organized Play

12th April 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 2.

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 2 Review

Saturday 7th April		Sunday 8th April
Second Edition (Standard) Oleg's House ulitsa Nametkina House 9 Building 3, Apt 307 Moscow 117420 Russia [Photos] [Results]	Second Edition (Standard) Legion Comics 3248 Cahaba Heights Road Birmingham, AL 35243 United States [Results]
Second Edition (Standard) Tower of Games 1400 Kempsville Road Chesapeake, VA 23320 United States [Results]	Tribbles (Standard) Tower of Games 1400 Kempsville Road Chesapeake, VA 23320 United States [Results]

Oleg's House: This was the largest sanctioned tournament held in Russia in the Continuing Committee-era. Of the eight players, three were playing in their first tournament under the Committee's stewardship. There was a wide variety of decks being played, with eight different affiliations on show. Andrey Larin (Cersan), playing a Next Generation deck titled "Alternative TNG Cadets", was victorious in all four rounds and won the title of Regional Champion. The play-of-the-day came in his final round game against Alexey Korolev (Ashbey), who was playing a Mirror Starfleet deck titled "Mirror, Mirror". Alexey had played three dilemmas to stop Andrey's final mission attempt: Secret Identity, Occupational Hazards and then Rogue Borg Ambush. Andrey brought Luther Sloan into the attempt with the first dilemma, and then used his skills to overcome the next two "like a hot knife through butter." Nickolay Korotya (G'Kar), playing a Romulan deck titled "Romulan investigators", finished in second place; and Alexey was third. Seven deck lists and five tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page.

(full photo gallery on Google Picasa)

Statistics from Oleg's House:

Total achievements awarded	25
Most achievements won	Alexey Korolev (Ashbey) and Dyonis Rakhl (Dyonis Rakhl), with 5 each
Average achievements per player	3.1
Biggest ratings gain	Andrey Larin (Cersan), up 65 points to 1575
Average rating of all 8 players	1500

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Ken's Prediction
Andrey Larin	Nickolay Korotya	Nickolay Korotya	Nastya Rovenskaya

Legion Comics: Four players participated in this Cardassia Regional. No deck lists or reports have been entered yet, so there isn't much to report about. After three rounds, there was a three-way tie between Andrew Ingram, playing Next Generation; Kyle Matusevic (CrimsonTide), playing Ferengi; and BamaFan (BamaFan), playing Voyeger/Equinox. The tiebreakers meant that Andrew won the tournament. This was the first ever Regional tournament he had participated in, and he won it on his first attempt. Congratulations Andrew! When the deck lists and tournament reports are entered, they can be found on the tournament results page.

Statistics from Legion Comics:

Total achievements awarded	5
Most achievements won	Kyle Matusevic (CrimsonTide) and codewolf, with 2 each
Average achievements per player	1.3
Biggest ratings gain	BamaFan, up 26 points to 1509
Average rating of all 4 players	1540

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Ken's Prediction
Andrew Ingram	Kyle Matusevic	Kyle Matusevic	Kyle Matusevic

Tower of Games (Second Edition): 13 players participated in this tournament in Chesapeake, Virginia; using nine different affiliations. Next Generation and Cardassian were the most popular, being used by three players each. It was the Cadets who came out on top though, with Ben Hosp (bhosp), playing a deck titled "Restore Errata Moon", winning all five of his games. Neil Timmons (ntimmons), playing a Maquis deck titled "Two Great tastes that taste great together", almost beat the curse of being picked by me to win and took second place, having had to face all three Next Generation players along the way. Patrick Krentz (PK of VA), playing a Cardassian/Terok Nor deck titled "Demotivational Techniques v2012"; was one of five players with two losses and picked up third place on tiebreakers. Special mention goes out to 9-year old Constance Corbett (Constance) for picking up three wins in this tough field of players. She finished the tournament just one victory point behind her father! Nine deck lists and two tournament reports can be found on the tournament results page, and an interview with Ben is below.

Statistics from Tower of Games:

Total achievements awarded	12
Most achievements won	David Blauvelt (captdsulu), with 3
Average achievements per player	0.9
Biggest ratings gain	Ben Hosp (bhosp), up 55 points to 1804
Average rating of all 13 players	1592

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Ken's Prediction
Ben Hosp	Neil Timmons	Patrick Krentz	Neil Timmons

Tower of Games (Tribbles): Most of the players departed following the Second Edition tournament, leaving just four players for this Tribbles Regional. In the end, they finished in the same order as they did in the Second Edition Regional earlier in the day. Charles Barhite (charlie) more than doubled his lifetime Tribbles total, by scoring 1,350,960 Tribbles to take the tournament. He was playing a diverse deck, with 18 different powers, unimaginatively titled "Tribbles". David Blauvelt (captdsulu) took second place with a battle beck titled "Whirlwind" just 26,177 Tribbles ahead of Scott Blauvelt (bolddarkstorm), playing a recursive deck titled "Regional time... oh boy", in third place. Bringing up the rear was David Barhite (Jedi Dav-Bar Butl) with a respectable 100,000 Tribbles. Three deck lists can be found on the tournament results page

Statistics from Tower of Games:

Total achievements awarded	5
Most achievements won	Charles Barhite (charlie), with 4
Average achievements per player	1.3
Total Tribbles Scored	2,327,629
Average Tribbles scored by all 4 players	581,907

Winner	James' Prediction	Kris' Prediction	Ken's Prediction
Charles Barhite	Neil Timmons	David Blauvelt	Scott Blauvelt

---

Interview

This week, Ben Hosp (bhosp); winner of the 2010 North American Continental Championships, runner-up at the 2009 World championships, semi-finalist at the 2011 World Championships, and semi-finalist at the 2008 North American Continental Championships; fields my probing questions.

James: Congratulations on your win Ben. Let's begin by discussing which decks you were considering playing, and which decks you expected to face?
Ben: I brought three decks with me down to Chesapeake. I was planning on playing either a Cardassian Groumall deck, or the Borg Dissident deck I played the week before. I was leaning towards the Borg Dissidents because Laura might be the number one card you want to have against Tragic Turn, and I was pretty sure at least Neil would be playing that, either with his Klingons or Maquis. In the end, I chickened out of playing them and pulled the Genial Captain Cadet deck out of the bag, because I thought the dilemma pile that went with that deck was much more solid. In particular, I thought people would be playing too many skill dilemmas for Assess Contamination to be very effective, and that's kind of the point of my Cardassian deck, so that was out.

James: Can you give a brief description of how your deck works?
Ben: The deck list is here. You use the Cadets and the Engineering PADDs to complete Practice Orbital Maneuvers and Restore Errant Moon, which are really easy 40-point missions. You score your remaining 20 points by using the U.S.S. Enterprise-D (Diplomatic Envoy) that you download with Genial Captain Picard, but you also have U.S.S. Enterprise-A, Tallera, Guinan, and even a B'aht Qul Challenge if something goes wrong with Plan A. (Plan D?)

James: Are there any special tricks in the deck?
Ben: Since you've got Engineering PADDs, you can prevent dilemmas with Relic Scotty. He prevents all the good dilemmas. 8-costers, Pitching In, Greater Needs, pretty much everything good. You've got Kirk to help with other stuff too.

The dilemma pile is probably the best part. With three 40-point missions in the deck, you can use a lot of 6-cost dilemmas, and along with the 8-costers, you rarely miss when you use Unfair Comparison. It is a great filter into an 8-cost dilemma or a wall with some bad side effect (like Greater Needs), especially when combined with Well-Prepared Defenses.

James: You played the same TNG/Cadet deck back in February against many of the opponents you were likely to face at the Regional. Were you concerned that their knowledge of your deck would hinder you?
Ben: Phil and I have been playing some version of that deck for months now, and no one had really managed to figure out how to beat it. Neil and John had started playing with A Few Minor Difficulties to cancel the Enterprise's ability, but there's enough ways to destroy events in there that even that doesn't work too well.

James: Did you consider any changes to the deck, based on the February tournament?
Ben: The one change I did end up accidentally making was that when I pulled the deck out of the bag at the last minute, there were some dilemmas missing. You'd think removing two copies of Where No One Has Gone Before from the deck would be bad, but it worked out OK.

James: Who was your toughest opponent?
Ben: I was afraid of Neil, but I ended up being able to outsmart him by knowing that he doesn't play with anything like Fractured Time in his Tragic Turn pile, so I was able to blow through his dilemmas by megateaming.

I actually had to sweat a bit in my game with Constance, as I only managed to get Data in play the turn before she completed Aid Legendary Civilization. If she'd completed that a turn earlier, she'd have left me with very few personnel in play. We were all proud of Constance for doing so well.

James: Now the tournament is over, how would you improve the deck?
Ben: I'd probably put the dilemmas back in that I forgot about, which are Where No One Has Gone Before and A Private Little War.

James: Do you have anything else to add?
Ben: Restore Errant Moon is probably too good, and needs an errata to add some extra skills or attributes to its requirements, or make its drawback hurt more, especially since you can completely erase the drawback with Alvera Tree Ritual.

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

---

Byes

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

• Andrey Larin (Cersan), winner at Oleg's House
• Andrew Ingram, winner at Legion Comics
• Ben Hosp (bhosp), winner at Tower of Games
• Neil Timmons (ntimmons), runner-up at Tower of Games

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

• Charles Barhite (charlie), winner at Tower of Games

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.

---

Deck statistics

With no First Edition tournaments this week, the statistics have not changed. There is still an average of 6 players per First Edition tournament.

The most popular First Edition affiliations are currently:
1.	Multiple Affiliations	Used by 3 (50%) players
2.	Bajoran	Used by 1 (17%) player	1 Regional win
2.	Cardassian	Used by 1 (17%) player
2.	Federation	Used by 1 (17%) player

There were 25 players at three Second Edition tournaments this week, an average of 8.3 players per tournament. Just three affiliations have not been played yet: Borg, Deep Space 9 and Original Series.

The most popular Second Edition affiliations are currently:
1.	Next Generation	Used by 5 (20%) players	3 Regional wins
2.	Cardassian	Used by 4 (19%) players
3.	Ferengi	Used by 2 (8%) players
3.	Maquis	Used by 2 (8%) players
3.	Romulan	Used by 2 (8%) players
3.	Voyager/Equinox	Used by 2 (8%) players
3.	Dual Affiliations	Used by 2 (8%) players
8.	Bajoran	Used by 1 (4%) player
8.	Dominion	Used by 1 (4%) player
8.	Earth Space 9	Used by 1 (4%) player
8.	Klingon	Used by 1 (4%) player
8.	Non-Aligned	Used by 1 (4%) player
8.	Starfleet	Used by 1 (4%) player

There were 4 Tribbles players at one tournament this week, taking the average to 6 players per tournament. Excluding preliminary heats, a total of 6,023,337 Tribbles have been scored to date, an average of 334,630 Tribbles per player.

The most popular Tribbles powers are currently:
1.	Go	Used by 5 (28%) players	2 Regional Wins
2.	Bonus	Used by 3 (17%) players	1 Regional Win
2.	~Unknown~	Used by 3 (17%) players
4.	Rescue	Used by 2 (11%) players
5.	Clone	Used by 1 (6%) player
5.	Discard	Used by 1 (6%) player
5.	Freeze	Used by 1 (6%) player
5.	Poison	Used by 1 (6%) player
5.	Replay	Used by 1 (6%) player

---

Predictions

James' Accuracy	Kris' Accuracy	Public Predictors' Accuracy
2/7 (28%)	1/7 (14%)	0/7 (0%)

There were twelve predictions made last week, and not a single one of them was correct. It should be noted that Neil Timmons attributed his second place in Virginia to the Hoskin curse (because I picked him to win), so at least I can feel that I accomplished something last week! For the second week in succession, the public predictor failed to get any predictions guesses correct. This week's public predictor is interviewee Ben Hosp (bhosp). He gets to predict a tournament (in Delaware) he plans to participate in, so he should have an advantage there. Of course, I get to predict two tournaments (in London) I'm planning to participate in, so I have an advantage too. No doubt Kris will out-predict both of us this week.

Past Public Predictors
Week 1	Will Hoskin (Gumbo)	0/3 (0%)
Week 2	Kenneth Tufts (Worf Son of Mogh)	0/4 (0%)

---

Week 3 Preview

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

Saturday 14th April		Sunday 15th April
First Edition (OTF) Game Preserve (North) 8487 Union Chapel Road Indianapolis, IN 46240 United States [Discuss] [Pre-register]		Second Edition (Standard) Good Games Burwood 195A Burwood Road Burwood, NSW 2134 Australia [Discuss] [Pre-register]	Second Edition (Standard) The Pommeler's Rest 198 Tower Bridge Road London, SE1 2UN United Kingdom [Discuss] [Pre-register]
		Tribbles (Standard) The Pommeler's Rest 198 Tower Bridge Road London, SE1 2UN United Kingdom [Discuss] [Pre-register]	Second Edition (Standard) Between Books 2703 Philadelphia Pike Claymont, DE 19703 United States [Discuss] [Pre-register]

Game Preserve (North): The only First Edition Regional of the weekend takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana. The local playgroup, which formed just six months ago, plays all three Star Trek games. Joshua Sheets (prylardurden) won five of the first six tournaments, but since then his form has dipped and other players have begun winning. There are six players pre-registered for this free-to-enter tournament, which features some impressive prizes: a sealed tin of (silver border) Premiere, a sealed Fajo Collection and an 18-card Enterprise Collection. The highest ranked pre-registered player is the Continuing Committee's First Edition Brand Manager Jordan Leung (FrakkinPhoenix). He has only played one of his potential opponent's before (winning both times), and hasn't won a First Edition tournament since Regional season last year. However, he has a 77% winning record against all opponents and should be considered the favorite. Also in the running (based on their pre-tournament ranking) are Jeff Pugh (who'syourdaddy?) and tournament director Carl Blackford (Blackjac), but I can't see past Jordan for this one.

Kris: Carl Blackford to win. Why? I'm sure you don't remember, Gorilla, but I used to manage The Blackjack's back in the 70's. They were a nasty duo then and I'm sure they've both only gotten nastier with age. So, there's no way I'm betting against 'em... either of 'em.

Ben: First Edition? Uh, let's go with Josh Sheets because he comes to Delaware sometimes.

There are no past First Edition Regional results at Game Preserve (North).

Good Games Burwood: This Kazon Collective Regional is being held in Sydney, Australia - host city of the 2012 World Championships. There are only four players pre-registered so far, but the last three Regionals at this venue have seen double-digit attendances. Competition is fierce, with the last five tournaments all having been won by different players. Steve Hartmann (chompers) has placed in the top two in over half of the tournaments he has played in this year, and looks a good bet. My pick last year was Mike Nugent (Iron Mike), who finished in third place. Mike has only played two tournaments this year, but he won one of them with his trusty Klingons, and I'll offer good money that he'll play Klingon again this Sunday. Although they are not pre-registered, Shane Brierley (Shanebrier), Chris Clarke (ZodoJats) and Lee Clarke (LCJK) will be three to keep an eye on if they show up. All three have good pedigree at this tournament, and they are the top three rated players in Australia. I think Shane will win this one.

Kris: Chris Clarke to win. Why? Despite being on the shelf for the past three months, he's still the reigning Continental Champion. And where I come from, to be the man, you gotta beat the man, and until he loses he's still... the man!

Ben: Let's go with Kieren because he's got one name, like Bono or Liberace.

Past Regional results at Good Games Burwood:
2011, won by Chris Clarke (ZodoJats) playing Borg.
2010, won by Shane Brierley (Shanebrier) playing Voyager.
2009, won by Lee Clarke (LCJK) playing Klingon.
2008, won by Kieren Otton (Honest) playing Next Generation.

The Pommeler's Rest (Second Edition): In previous years, this Omarion Nebula Regional has attracted between six and eight players, for a minimum of five rounds of action. This year's tournament director - because he sent his application to me before I could apply to myself - Nicholas Yankovec (nickyank) has stated we'll be playing round-robin on Sunday, so another marathon gaming session is expected. The local players haven't won this Regional since 2009, and it doesn't look like they will again this year either, as two Danish players are invading. Last month, Peter H. Møller (Peukon) won the 2012 Danish National Championships, just ahead of Soren Ramme Nielsen (s_ramme), in second place. The Vikings successfully fought off the English invasion (consisting of myself, my brother Will and Nick) of their National Championships, and now they are looking to conquer this English Regional. The local players won't take this lying down though. Plans are afoot to take the two Danes out drinking the night before the Regional in a desperate attempt to hinder their performance the following day. Who'll win? I have no idea. If I'm forced to pick, I'll modestly choose myself.

Kris: Soren Ramme Nielsen to win. Why? The man's won three out of every four matches he's been involved in over the past 15 months, and is the only combatant with a winning record against everyone he's likely to face. If he's not the safe pick in this bunch, I don't know who is!

Ben: I'm picking Soren, because Generations was the best movie ever.

Past Regional results at The Pommeler's Rest:
2011, won by Stuart Motley (Damulak) playing Earth Space 9 / Deep Space 9.
2010, not played.
2009 (alternate venue), three-way tie won by William Hoskin (Gumbo) playing Romulan, Nicholas Yankovec (nickyank) playing Dominion and Steve Upton (nagisteve) playing Cardassian / Romulan.
2008 (alternate venue), won by Stuart Motley (Damulak) playing Dominion.

The Pommeler's Rest (Tribbles): After everyone has celebrated my victory in the Second Edition Round Robin; we get to play the all-important Tribbles tournament. Only two of the players pre-registered have much experience at playing Tribbles: Reigning World Champion William Hoskin (Gumbo) and his older, better looking wiser brother James Hoskin (RedDwarf). I can comfortably predict that these two players will spend the majority of the tournament attacking each other, and neither will win. That just leaves the two Danes, Soren Ramme Nielsen (s_ramme) and Peter H. Møller (Peukon), who are borrowing decks from me, so we can count them out; and Nicholas Yankovec (nickyank), who will be playing his own creation for the first time at this tournament. On second thoughts, perhaps a Hoskin will win this one? Just to prove that I have no ego, I'll pick myself to win this one too.

Kris: James Hoskin to win. Why? Because that's you, Gorilla! You and the reigning World Champ share parents, so your bloodline's got winners in it, and while I could pick your kid brother instead, I expect in this Battle Royale there will be nothing better than a good, blind referee.

Ben: World Champ Will Hoskins.

There are no past Tribbles Regional results at The Pommeler's Rest.

Between Books: Last weekend's event in Virginia, won by Ben Hosp (bhosp), could be seen as something of a warm-up for this event; with many of the same players participating. The last six tournaments at the venue have been won by six different players, with two wins each to Klingon and Borg. Anyone playing this Sunday knows what to expect. Ben is the form player, having won the last tournament at this venue, and the warm-up event last weekend. Neil Timmons (ntimmons) is surely hoping I don't curse him again, even though he has placed in the top two of the last four tournaments he has played in. He need not fear though, because I'm picking John Corbett (KillerB) for this one. He has never won this Regional in the Continuing Committee-era, and he has finished third or fourth in the last five tournaments he has played in, but now that his daughter is beginning to challenge his reputation as the best Star Trek player named Corbett, I think he'll have to step up his game.

Kris: Neil Timmons to win. Why? The Big Show was the DCW Champ back in '09, and came out on top when he and I went toe to toe for the National title in 2010. The man's a legend in this business, Gorilla, and if you don't believe it just ask him!

Ben: There's weird people pre-registered for this one, who I don't know who they are; so I'll just pick myself, because I'm the best at everything.

Past Regional results at Between Books:
2011, won by Ben Hosp (bhosp) playing Romulan.
2010, won by Neil Timmons (ntimmons) playing Romulan.
2009, won by Michael van Breemen (The Ninja Scot) playing Deep Space 9.
2008, won by Neil Timmons (ntimmons) playing Klingon.

---

Next Week

A review of the five results from week three, an interview with a winning player (almost certainly not English), more statistics, and a preview of the eight Regional Championships taking place in week four.

Have an opinion about this article? Post it here, or contact the author!

Back to Archive index