Thorsten Wanek, project manager EC2007 | openCards

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Thorsten Wanek, project manager EC2007

    Long-Small-BannerimagePart of the coverage for the Big-Event "EC 2007".

    This Interview with Jaglom Shrek was hold by openCards user KaiserK.

    In today’s interview the EC2007 project manager Thorsten Wanek talks about his “career” as a player and tournament director for Decipher’s STCCG and explains what’s so special about this year’s European Continental Championship…

    • Name: Thorsten Wanek
    • Known on the dboards as: JaglomShrek
    • Age: 28
    • Regular player group: Hannover
    • Current/highest Decipher rating: 1837 / 1900+
    • STCCG 2E accomplishments: TOC winner Bochum 2003 and Hamburg 2006, unbeaten at EC 2004 before the finals, 2007 Regional Runner-Up

    1). How did you start playing Star Trek CCG?

    Back in 1995 shortly after Alternate Universe had been released I worked in a toy shop that started selling card games. One of them was the Star Trek: The Next Generation – Customizable Card Game which I immediately tried out with my younger brother as we were both Star Trek fans at that time. I remember our first two decks were I used a starter with an additional Warp Pack and he had a starter with some AU boosters … I started collecting, sold my collection soon after and started again shortly before FC came out. Together with a friend I ran the first tournaments in 1998 before becoming an Ambassador in the year 2000 and later even a playtester for Holodeck Adventures and The Motion Pictures.

    2). Do you play any other TCGs beside Star Trek?

    I’ve tried several games over the years and collected more than I ever played. Some of them were the X-Files TCG, Decipher’s Star Wars CCG, Young Jedi, Buffy, .hack/ENEMY, Lord of the Rings and of course Magic. But Star Trek remained to be my first priority and the only game I competitively played on tournaments for longer than a few months.

    3). How did you become project manager of EC 2007?

    The ones that know me personally or from the boards might have noticed that I’m not even a dAgent but became European OP coordinator this year. So how did that happen? As stated above I’ve been a dAgent from the year 2000 on to the end of 2004 which is exactly 5 years. At that time I felt that my five-year mission was successfully finished and I had to move on to new projects. However I never left the STCCG but remained to run local tournaments and did my best to counsel the other dAgents and gave my advice to the German distributor. Together we had created a strong Organized Play network for Germany (including different championship levels, tournament directors in key cities and many German shops that cooperated with us) and with most of the other dAgents resigning in Decipher’s difficult years I couldn’t just let my hands off of this. I started to coordinate OP events again which resulted in Brad DeFruiter contacting me last year and offering additional support. When working on Germany’s OP for 2007 Brad finally asked me to run the EC … and here we go!

    4). What will be so special about this year’s European Continental Championships?

    Right from the first moment Brad had asked me to run the EC I knew this EC had to be special in comparison to everything players had experienced during the last years. While doing some field-work in advance (like checking the number of active players in Europe and elaborating on some cities’ strengths and weaknesses) I realized that the EC needed to be unique in order to refresh people’s interest in international Organized Play. From my work for Germany’s yearly Grand Prix STCCG convention I had learned a lesson: Prepare everything well in advance and don’t believe you can do it alone! So I contacted people that I knew where enthusiastic and disciplined enough to work on a project like this and who felt responsible for accomplishing the same mission: Make this EC perfect in every aspect! With Tony Gammell and Johannes Klarhauser I soon had two great volunteers aboard which not only worked hard but also enriched our endless discussions with their unique experience. With Tony from Ireland, Johannes as a member of the famous Team London and me as a German business school graduate cultures clashed and new ideas were born. (Tony will tell you more about this next week …) After the core team was founded some of the best German STCCG writers and players joined us and made it possible to establish a writing team. With Ulf Benjes, Sebastian Kirstein, Thomas Vorwerk and Christian Zipper we were able to create a website that exclusively covers the European Continental Championship and prepares every potential participant for an event well worth the trip to Berlin. Now it’s your turn to enjoy our work!

    5). Which one do you enjoy the most, playing at or organizing a tournament?

    I really enjoy organizing stuff like this and to develop new concepts in order to make the STCCG a successful game. And in my opinion the best way to make this game successful is to make the players have a good time! But don’t think I wouldn’t know how to play … even Christian Pulsfort feared me as an opponent ;-)

    6). Some of the players travelling to Berlin will have never played in such a large event. What advice can you give to these players who want to build the best possible deck for the event?

    Most important thing to remember: Just relax. Sure it’s the European Continental Championships but still, it’s a game and you should have fun playing it! For your deck I can only advice you to have it played a couple of times because only this way you know what it is capable of doing. Get to know its weaknesses and even more important, get to know it strengths. Keep it simple but versatile at the same time. Don’t include more than one specific strategy and focus on that one. Your deck should be like an old Eastern-Germany car, simple but moving. Don’t try to prepare for every potential strategy but be aware of the fact that you never know what comes. Expect the unexpected and look into your opponent’s eyes. They will often tell you more about his strategy than any decklist you’ve seen or any article you’ve read. And never give up! I’ve won so many games in which my opponent had two missions completed before I even started… How did this happen? One word: Dilemmas. Make sure you have some dilemma manipulation included in your deck (and some event destruction to destroy your opponent’s) and there is no excuse like “I started second” anymore :-)

    7). Since Worlds 2006, we have seen Starfleet, Voyager and The Original Series enter the game. Do you think these 3 affiliations will make an impact at the European Championships?

    Currently there is one affiliation dominating the top ranks on tournaments everywhere in Germany: Voyager. Their immunity against several dilemmas and control strategies in accordance with their speed at solving planet missions make them the perfect affiliation for everyone who just wants to play a fast solver. I’m not sure about Starfleet as I haven’t seen a real strong deck right know but for sure there will be some TOS combo deck making an impact at EC2007.

    8). What was the first major 2E event you attended outside of your own country or outside your regular playing area? Do you feel that your game improved after playing?

    I have been a judge for the European Continental Championships in Bruxelles, Paris and Amsterdam before 2E was released. My first international tournament where I attended outside Germany was the EC 2004 in Utrecht where I lost the quarter finals against Nick Yankovic. Did it improve my game? I think every single tournament helps you to improve your game and to learn about new strategies but the more international opponents you have the more different their metagame is. And facing decks you’ve never thought of before really gives you a new perspective in playing this wonderful game!

    9). The German Star Trek scene has always been the home of some top players. How do you think players from outside of Germany will fare at the event?

    We had one Czech player (Jirka Paska) on last year’s Grand Prix convention and he did quite well, although his style of playing differed much from the German metagame. Also I saw great decks on international tournaments in Essen and am sure that there will be tough opponents for our players. But as I said before, never give up!

    10). If you had to place a 10 euro bet to name 3 players to reach the final 16 on day 2, which 3 players would you choose?

    Tobias Rausmann, Vladimir Vrbata, Nick Yankovic

    11). What 3 cards released from These are the Voyages do you expect to see a lot of at the European Championships?

    Apar from TOS Earth I expect to see Optimism, Tox Uthat and both Excalbian Drama/Fesarius Bluff.

    12). If you could change one rule, or one game mechanic, of 2E, what would you do?

    I’m not sure about which game mechanic to change as I’m really happy with 2E’s balanced gameplay. But I would have made Locutus a version of Jean-Luc Picard…

    13). When not playing Star Trek, what else do you enjoy doing?

    I like to spend time with my girlfriend and I read a lot, mostly newspapers and business books but also Harry Potter and other novels.

    14.) Which affiliation do you think will dominate the European Continental Championships, if any?

    Based on the current metagame I definitely have to point on Voyager as it seems to be the easiest affiliation to play as it has the fewest weaknesses against popular strategies and great personnel to chose from. I by myself have played Voyager for a couple of weeks now and tested both the Planet and Space-only version – its strong both ways. But if you don’t want to play a simple solver most affiliations are competitive so I expect to see many different affiliations to be played at the EC.

    15). Name your favourite ever card? Why?

    Machinations. Simply because it gives you the power to stop any mission attempt if your opponent has not prepared himself by using Genesis Kirk or Tox Uthat.

    16). Have you ever built a deck that looked great on paper, but did terrible in a tournament?

    Sure, I had many of those. Typically I play them privately against my girlfriend and if it doesn’t work I try to find out if this is because the deck is bad or because I just can’t play it. Sometimes a great deck needs an adjusted playing-style which I have to adapt to first.

    17). Can you tell us the most memorable game of Star Trek 2E you have ever played? Why does this game in particular stick out in your mind?

    To be honest, there are so many memorable games that I cannot decide which to talk about. So let’s stay with a strange experience I had on our last tournament: I played a Voyager Space-only deck and had completed four missions before my opponent had even completed his first one. So all I needed to do was playing The Long Journey Home … but I didn’t draw it! I knew that my opponent had at least one Amanda Rogers which I had in my hand as well, so I couldn’t use D’Arsay Archive to draw a new hand. I watched my opponent completing his first mission and moving on to his second, still drawing cards. Finally before my opponent was able to win the game I got The Long Journey Home and successfully nullified his Amanda Rogers – with less than 10 cards remaining in my drawdeck. What does it show to us? You haven’t won your game before you actually won it! In the meantime a lot can happen …

    18). Create a 2E dream card of yourself!

    (4) •Thorsten Wanek, Rogue Ambassador

    Non-Aligned, Human

    • Diplomacy • Honor • Medical • Navigation • Leadership

    When you play this personnel, you may place a personnel from hand aboard your ship of same affiliation. Discard a number of cards equal to that personnel’s cost.

    Integrity 7 Cunning 6 Strength 4

    Instead of military I worked as an ambulance man (and also drove those ambulance cars) where Medical and Navigation come from. Diplomacy and Leadership are from my business management studies and my experience in organizing tournaments, Honor is added because this seems applicable for a member of Decipher’s Hall of Fame. The gametext is based on the fact that I appreciate to work with a team (and are willing to spend my resources for that).