German National Championship 2007

This Strategy-Note article was written by openCards user Jaglom Shrek at Jun 4th, 2007.

The weekend of June 2nd/3rd not only was the final date for this year’s TOC season but also the moment of ultimate decision for Germany’s organized play: The German National Championship 2007. Two days of exciting competition took place in Kassel, the most central city of Germany. A grand total of 24 players showed up for the three tournaments that were run that weekend, the German National’s Day 1 and Day 2 and also the non-official Championship for First Edition.

With twelve players Day 1 allowed both already qualified and those who haven’t succeeded on the previous levels of organized play to compete against each other. In six rounds of demanding games everyone managed to receive a bye into Day 2. In addition the so-called professional players (with a life-time rating of 1701 or more) had to fight for a bounty that was given to their successful opponents. While Tobias Rausmann lost his bounty to Matthias Herath, Tobias Schneider was able to defeat against all potential bounty-hunters. Fascinating fact: Two names appeared on the list of unbeaten players (that was written on a board for public notice) till the end: Thomas Schneider (Starfleet MACO) and Matthias Herath (Borg) – they had met in round 2 which ended as a true tie!

For First Edition seven players gathered in order to decide on the first new champion since 2005 – as no such championship had taken place last year. Widely seen among the masses of cards were all the Delta affiliations, especially Vidiian and Hirogen. Although played without any restrictions (no x-list) only very few backwards-compatible cards appeared between the first edition templates. In the end former ambassador Christian Krenz took the victory with a deck consisting of pillars of cards – his deck hardly fit into an Anthology box!

Day 2 had a total of 18 participants, mostly because many players saved their money for both the upcoming In a Mirror, Darkly and the European Continental Championship in Berlin. The affiliations that showed up were merely the same as on Day 1 with the exception of one Gal Gath’thong deck that was only played this day. But as previous discussions had alarmed players to protect against the “Romulan bastard” it ended up on place 17. Another strategy that had appeared on the Hamburg TOC but didn’t cause wide attention had an enormous impact against Day 1 winner Thomas Schneider: Anti-Voyager-Thon (as discussed by Thomas Vorwerk in his Hamburg TOC report). After Thomas completed two missions in a row his third attempt failed and his Emergeny Transport Unit went to hand by Equipment Malfunction. Thus he couldn’t counter Thorsten Wanek’s Dimensional Sifting with Grav-Plating Trap and Thon took over the empty Voyager. The game was over for Thomas at this point as he couldn’t get back his Voyager to the Delta Quadrant and lost his only way to report personnel!

No other Voyager decks faced any Thon this day but his obvious strength was matter of discussion for the whole day. To sum up: Although many strategies may work against Thon (like killing him in combat or by assassins once you got back to Voyager with your Delta Flyer) it became obvious that Thon is the one card that can shoot an entire sub-affiliation out of the game by relocating Voyager to a non-Delta mission each turn. And that by using just a two-card combo fitting into any non-Borg deck …

See this overview for all affiliations played on Day 2:

• 3 Borg (1 assimilation)
• 1 Cardassian (capture)
• 2 Dominion (Defiant)
• 1 Fed-DS9 (cadets)
• 1 Fed-TNG (McCoy)
• 2 Fed-TOS (McCoy/Shran)
• 3 Fed-VOY (2 planet-version)
• 1 Klingon (battle)
• 1 Maquis (Delta Quadrant)
• 2 Romulan (1 Gal Gath’thong)
• 1 Starfleet (MACO)

No double-HQ decks at all! The most innovative deck was played by Carsten Hartmann: He used his Athos IV to report Voyager personnel with Treachery and completed four space missions in the Delta Quadrant followed by The Long Journey Home. Anecdote: On Day 1 he faced Ulf Benjes’ battle Klingons (partially with Gamma Quadrant missions as counter to Gal Gath’thong) who chased the Maquis through all three quadrants…

After round six the two finalists were announced: Tobias Rausmann and Matthias Herath. Both played Borg just as the previous year’s finalists had done. The popular Voyager-affiliation which had been expected to dominate this National followed on places three (space-version by Oliver Thust) and four (planet-version by Sandra Stieß). Fifth became Marco Pülsch with his Dominion-Defiant solver.

The final confrontation between Tobias and Matthias went close and offered more variance than seen last year. The two Borg decks were different in most ways and allowed for a thrilling game to watch. Remarkable moment was the death of Matthias’s Borg Queen at the new Borg mission, where he instantly assimilated Tobias’ Borg Queen from the discard pile! Thanks to Locutus both sides headed to 90 points which limited dilemma selection for further attempts. At his third mission Matthias was stopped dead by a Distress Call. Tobias moved to his third mission as well. Without any Machination in core Matthias had to chose from his dilemmas drawn - and realized he had lost the game. Tobias Rausmann, tragic third of last year’s tournament, finally became German National Champion 2007!

Final results:

1. Tobias Rausmann – 16 / Borg
2. Matthias Herath – 16 / Borg
3. Oliver Thust – 13 / Fed-VOY
4. Sandra Stieß – 13 / Fed-VOY
5. Marco Pülsch – 12 / Dominion
6. Thorsten Wanek – 12 / Fed-TOS
7. Thomas Schneider – 12 / Fed-VOY
8. Markus Eberlein – 11 / Cardassian
9. Ulf Benjes – 11 / Klingon
10. Daniel Sinner – 11 / Fed-TOS
11. Stephan Krüger – 11 / Romulan
12. Christian Zipper – 10 / Borg
13. Tobias Meyer – 10 / Fed-TNG
14. Matthias Weller – 10 / Dominion
15. Tiemo Mittelstedt – 10 / Fed-DS9
16. Tjark Ott – 9 / Starfleet
17. Michael Mittelstedt – 9 / Romulan
18. Carsten Hartmann – 6 / Maquis

Winner deck – Tobias Rausmann:

Missions:
Evade Brg Vessel
Fissure Research
Plot Invasion
Salvage Borg Ship
Unicomplex, Root of the Hive Mind
DRAWDECK (80)
Event:
At What Cost? x3
Machinations x3
Quintessence x2
Regeneration Alcoves x2
Unexpected Difficulties x3
Unyielding x3
You’e Always Been My Favourite x3
Interrupts:
Adapt x3
Ascertain x3
The First of Many x2
Personnel:
Annexation Drone x3
Borg Queen, Guardian of the Hive x3
Cartography Drone
Computation Drone x3
Continuity Drone x3
Evaluation Drone x2
Facilitation Drone x3
Fifth, Neonatal Drone
First, Unstable
Four of Nine, Heuristic Drone
Forth, Neonatal Drone
Guidance Drone
Locutus, Voice of the Borg x3
Negation Drone
Observation Drone x3
Opposition Drone x2
Reclamation Dorne x3
Requisitions Drone x3
Research Drone x2
Third, Neonatal Drone
Three of Nine, Tactician Drone
Transwarp Drone
Two of Nine, Transtator Drone x3
Ships:
Borg Cube x3
Borg Sphere
Sphere 634 x3
DILEMMAPILE (42)
Duals:
Agonizing Enconter x2
An Issue of Trust
Bre’Nan Ritual
Center of Attention
Chula: Pick One to Save Two
Dangerous Liaisons
Destined Journey
Dignitaries and Witnesses
Formal Hearing
Full Security Alert
Gorgan x2
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
Heart to Heart
Psychokinetic Control x2
Racial Tension
Skeleton Crew x2
Temptation
The Caretaker’s “Guests”
Planet:
Cultural Differences
Excalbian Drama
Kolaran Raiders
Necessary Execution
No Kill I
Outmatched
Rogue Borg Ambush
Triage
Unknown Microorganism
Whisper in the Dark
Space:
Distress Call
Fesarius Bluff
Gomtuu Shockwave
Magnetic Field Disruptions
Outclassed
Personal Duty
Tactical Disadvantage
Unbelievable Emergency
Warp Bubble Mishap
Where No One has Gone Before

Runner-Up deck – Matthias Herath:

Missions:
1x 12U 39 Assimilate Resistance
1x 1 S 170 Fissure Research
1x 3 U 99 Plot Invasion
1x 3 S 103 Salvage Borg Ship
1x 3 S 110 Unicomplex, Root of the Hive Mind
DRAWDECK
Events:
3x 4 R 40 At What Cost?
3x 2 R 49 Machinations
3x 10U 34 Starting Over
3x 5 P 18 Unyielding
Interrupts:
3x 7 R 36 Ascertain
Personnel:
3x 3 C 118 Acclimation Drone
3x 6 P 42 Annexation Drone
2x 3 R 123 Borg Queen, Guardian of the Hive
3x 3 C 126 Computation Drone
1x 4 U 114 Five of Twelve, Secondary Adjunct of Trimatrix 942
1x 12R 45 Four of Nine, Heuristics Drone
2x 3 R 132 Locutus, Voice of the Borg
3x 3 C 133 Negation Drone
3x 6 P 43 Requisitions Drone
1x 3 S 139 Seven of Nine, Representative of the Hive
1x 8 R 67 Third, Neonatal Drone
1x 12R 47 Three of Nine, Tactician Drone
1x 12R 48 Two of Nine, Transtator Drone
Ships:
2x 11P 26 Queen’s Borg Sphere, Contingency Vessel
2x 5 P 39 Sphere 634
DILEMMAPILE
1x 11P 1 Accelerated Aging
2x 10R 2 An Issue of Trust
3x 4 C 6 Back Room Dealings
2x 8 R 4 Bre’Nan Ritual
3x 4 R 11 Counterinsurgency Program
1x 6 P 2 Dignitaries and Witnesses
2x 3 R 12 Gomtuu Shock Wave
1x 6 P 6 Hard Time
1x 7 C 9 Outmatched
2x 1 R 42 Personal Duty
2x 3 U 25 Rogue Borg Ambush
3x 3 U 26 Secret Identity
1x 8 R 16 Tactical Disadvantage
1x 4 R 25 Talosian Trial
2x 1 U 53 Temptation
2x 4 R 27 The Dreamer and the Dream
2x 5 P 3 Tragic Turn
2x 6 P 11 Unknown Microorganism
1x 6 P 12 Urgency
1x 7 R 15 Where No One Has Gone Before