Tyler Fultz (DJstormtrooper) Tournament Report - 2E - European Continentals Day One 2012-07-21 - 10:00 AM Die Bundesbank auf Ferenginar Introduction Lo! Here follows the Epic Account of the 2012 European Championships composed by the One Who is Neither German Nor American, Keeper of the Trove of Rules, Member of the 1st Losers Guild and Builder of The Maquis Deck. And Behold! The many nations departed their homelands. The Texan saddled his horse and departed for the day-long journey to the airport. The Russians removed their furry hats and donned their Megadeath t-shirts that they might go unnoticed in the West. The Danes boarded the trains with their mighty axes, but not before rendering several train conductors for daring to speak to them. Without comprehending how or why, the British staggered from one pub- onto a Ryanair flight- and then immediately staggered into another pub; for this is what passes for travel in their land. The Germans took heed, for the Fatherland was under invasion! They ceased eating Bratwurst and dancing to Lena’s Satellite so that they might meet this gathering threat. On the first day, the One found himself in the village of Bonn, his hunger sated with döner and ready for the challenge. The first to begin was the Beirmeister; and begin it did, for Nick declared, “On your first turn, you and your opponent shall name a card. When you have the named card having been played, ye shall drink a shot!” And thus it proceeded. The barkeep struggled to keep the ale flowing and to scrawl the Ps and Qs upon each’s coaster. In time, the Russian knew not what he was playing. And in the final game, Tolian Soren and Orange Julius stared and laughed at one another and banged their heads upon the table; until, after an eternity, they decided that the Gods favored a start to their contest. Lo, past midnight, Soren was proclaimed the victor! And though he could not be found for sometime thereafter, eventually he claimed his prize. Upon the next morn, they began the Great Contest. Still more travelers arrived from faraway lands. Before them, James Hoskins (though he had not his luscious hair) stood and proclaimed that there should be a fair contest. Thus it began. Round 1 Markus Eberlein FW (+100) The One first faced Marcus, to whom he had lost so shamefully the previous year. But history was not to be repeated, for The One proclaimed “Thou shalt suck up to thine Boss!” and won the game in but a third of an hour. Round 2 Vladimir Vrbata FL (-35) But Fate was a cruel mistress and thus made The One face Vlad. He played Voyager and when The One saw the power of it, he despaired. For, when he had drawn dilemmas, he knew that Vlad could not be stopped. Their skills were too many, their unstopping too great- and always Navaar lurked to make Accelerated Aging useless. The game ended in loss. Round 3 Svenja Welden FW (+100) The One was thus assigned to face Svenja who surpassed all the other players in her ability to be female. Her Klingons were strong, but The One knew their tricks and led his orange midgets to a second victory. Round 4 Peter H. Møller FW (+40) Thus The One faced Peter (of the Danish variety) and his TNG, swift as lightning. He proclaimed with his missions, “I care not how many Insurrections you play!” The turning point of the contest came when Peter dared to attempt with 4 personnel. To this The One said, “Arts thou sure?” and when he replied in the affirmative, The One rained down 6 additional dilemmas with Transport Crash Survivors, taking his ship to where no one has gone before- and the game with it. Being 3-1, The One felt assured of victory and advance to the second day- thus began the long march to defeat. Round 5 Jan Rohacek FL (-40) The One’s next opponent was Jan, whose deck had been constructed by Vlad and it included all the tools to defeat Ferengi. He Wasn’t Nice and Excalbian Drama proliferated and The One could not outrace the Jan’s Voyager. The One felt the shame of having been out-meta’ed. Round 6 Soren Ramme Nielsen FL (-35)View opponent's ReportView original Report Soren thus came forth to face the Ferengi. He held the power of Nathan Samels, which is mighty. The One had naught his second turn from Falsify Distress Signal, for Soren had overcosted his last dilemma. Thus, the One lost the game by a turn, for there is no halting the march of Starfleet. So 4 rounds in I'm on 4-1 and I was pretty sure to qualify for day 2. With one more win I'd even get a decent seed. Didn't expect to win this one, though. I always struggle against Tyler and I'd never beaten him prior to this. He's a brilliant deck builder and a very skilled player. I was very happy when he and Thomas came knocking at Peter and my hotel door on friday and invited us for a game of Carcasonne. It was super awesome hanging with them again and really too bad we don't get to see each other more often. Anyway, the game. I really like Tyler's Ferengi build and he pilots it perfectly. When all the dilemma busting stuff is up and running it's very hard to stop. Didn't help me that I've only played Ferengi a couple of times myself and aren't really that familiar with all their tricks. Tyler had a good start and with Gint in his opening hand got to download and play rule #6 and #76. I Destroyed a #6 and made him shuffle one into his deck, but it didn't really slow him down. Should probably have targeted the #76 instead. Or maybe just saved my interrupts. I don't know. I need to figure out a good strategy against Ferengi. When Tyler started mission attempting I screwed up again. I wanted to take out Reyga to make my non-skill dilemma hit and figured I was safe to use Secret Identity since I hadn't seen Ulis yet. But of course Tyler just brought in Ulis and then stopped him to get Reyga back. Stupid me. Tyler blows right through Falsify Distress Signal. Lucky for me my last dilemma was overcosted and Tyler didn't get to use Rom and so there were too few cards under Ferenginar for him to take an additional turn, which might just be the thing that won me the game. Although I struggled to play dilemmas against Tyler, I did manage to stop him a couple of times. Once by canceling two consecutive rule #33 with two Grav-plating Traps making my wall hit. Meanwhile, I was working on my missions. I don't remember most of the dilemma plays against me, but I do remember having two D'Velas in my last attempt at my final mission and Tyler being unable to filter both before hitting me with Unwanted Guests. I picked Brunt from his hand, but could use my Vulcan Tricorder to ditch my hand and my remaining D'Vela to destroy my 3 core events to gain the 3 skills I needed to overcome the dilemma, complete the mission and, much to my surprise, win the game. It was very close though, and Tyler would have completed his final mission on his next turn for sure. Round 7 Julius Melhardt FL (-40) Thus began the final game which would determine whom would advance to the second day. The One faced Julius and his strange TNG. Though he had a good start, the One erred by using Brunt, who was his only Programming, before attempting Falsify Distress Signal. Having not the benefit of time travel, he moved to his planets, costing him turns and allowing Julius to complete Aid Legendary Civilization. And when it became The One’s final turn, he despaired- for he saw that he was destaffed. There was no victory for The One. He saw prepared to accept his shame and scorn of his forefathers for not making Day 2, but- Behold! There was salvation. The Otts chose not to play upon the second day, making room for him at the 16th place. There was much rejoicing! Before the competitors departed, Thomas came before them and declared, “Any of you who should arrive after the 15th minute of the 9th hour shall be put to death!” The players knew the truth of it.