With a hearty cry of "Team Mondor am strong," myself, Dr David Hyttenrauch and Eric Nielson set out from Calgary, seeking desperately to defend our city's honor.

        You see, the last four major STCCG tournaments, both of our previous provincials and regionals have been won by vile Edmontonians, and we had been prepping and planning to overthrow their dominance of the game.

        We set out in my car, the Mondor (so named because it often needs things to make it go) early in the morning, and it soon turned out that my car was too aptly named.  So, after borrowing a different car from Erik's mom (designated the "Mondor advanced"), we set out again. Arriving three hours later at the tournament, we found that the turnout was already higher than expected.  Among the notable attendees were Stevee, who hadn't shown up to a 'Trek tournament since coming in second last at worlds this year, Michael Mcleod who has only shown up to one tournament since coming in second last at the previous worlds, and Andrew Hieberling, who hasn't shown up to a tournament since wining provincials last year. As the tournament was starting twenty minutes late already, the four players who showed up at the last moment with no decklist were forced to sit out the first round. There was grumble from the late arrivals as they sat and wrote down their decklists.

        I was paired against Stevee in the first round. He was playing an Anti-Time Anomaly/Live Long and Prosper deck that I had built. It was a good test run for my strategy. I was never worried, as I knew that if things got too rough for me, I could always writ him. After tripping my own Balancing Act in the process of taking Study Lonka Pulsar and grabbing a Horaga'hn, he was reduced to -50 points and I had 50 points. After four of my turns, and one of his, the score was 125 to negative 100. When his second turn rolled around and he played the second ATA, I knew it was gratuitous to bring out the writ, but I wanted to have enough time to fetch a Phylo Roll and an Orangina from the Greek food place a block away, before the next round.
2 (+100)

        The Second round I faced Eric "Gazi" Nielson, who I would eventually play again in the finals. He's a nice kid, a good player, and getting better. As it is however, he'd needed me to give him some help with his deck the night before. Armed with the knowledge of what dilemma combos were, where they would be, and what mission he would attempt first I made quick work of him. His turn involved getting an impressive 15 Feds out first turn, attempting Pegasus search and being stopped by a Scow. I responded by stealing his Runabout Search, earning the Horaga'hn and taking Pegasus Search quickly for the win.
4 (+199)

        Thomas "Hate Point Denial? Play Borg" Solway had faced point denial in his first two rounds, making mincemeat of them with his "Looks Cardassian, feels Cardassian, tastes Cardassian but is Borg" Deck.  His deck was however completely unprepared for a quick mission steal. After solving Bioweapon ruse for 50 points, I went after my own missions. Now of course I hate doing that, but since none of his other missions were stealable, I really had no choice. After a redshirt of my "Reignite Dead Star"  had shown me that the first dilemma was Unscientific Method, I anticipated that the rest of the combo would be 'A Fast Ship/Scientific method.' I threw the entirety of my non-science crew at the mission, only to be reminded that Barclay's Protomorphosis disease exists, and that I am a moron to have forgotten it. The only things that saved my hide were bad draws on Tom's part, and the AMS that turned up the next turn. My mission specialists pumped up the mission to 50 points and I eked out a victory.
6 (+299)

        The most out of practice player I faced was Andrew Heberling, after moving on from Trek to Wars, he hadn't looked at his cards in a year, and had only showed up to defend his title as provincial champion. He was playing what had once been a fantastic deck, but was now Writbait, 'It's only a game'-bait, and most importantly, mission-stealing-bait. After taking Avert Danger for 50 points, I wandered down the spaceline, stealing whatever I could. At this point in the tournament, I was feeling ill-- I knew that everyone thought that I was bound to win, that 8 + 399 was an unstoppable score, but I knew better. I had been in this position at the regional in '99, and had fouled it up then, just like I was certain I would fowl it up now. The next Game almost proved me right.

        The worst part of playing David "Dr. Fünk" Hyttenrauch in the fifth round is that it was he who had given me a comeuppance in '99. Dr. Fünk is the best player in the region, bar none--I know it, even if he denies it. The seed phase took half an hour, as we both watched each other's hands for hesitation, indecision, and tried to outmaneuver each other. He spotted what I was up to and managed a last seed under his Deliver Supplies, his only stealable mission. We knew that time was short, and played terse little turns, making sure that each move was correct. After several turns variously engaging in personnel battle, ship battle, and mission attempts on the deliver supplies, I finally managed to get though his self-seeded 'Oops', but was stopped by my own Executive Authorization. He saw his opportunity and went for it. He moved in with his mission solving crew and was shut down by my garbage scow combo. I had anticipated that the mission would be the primary battleground for the game, and had seeded appropriately. I took the mission on my next turn for 45 points (I had a Reflection Therapied Amarie for mission specialist points) and then trundled down the spaceline with my Horaga'hn, solving one more mission before time was called.
9 (+484)

        Earl Prusak has dominated the tournament scene around here recently with a Guardian of Forever deck, and it was because of this that I had built my deck as a mission stealing deck. It was my assumption that I could easily take 'historical research' first off for 60 points, and worry about the rest of the game after that. Imagine my surprise when the first mission down is 'Gunrunning.' Earl is a decent player, but unoriginal in his deck design. I realized that he was playing a card for card remake of the "Hero of the Ferengi Empire" deck that Steve Clicennoi had won Betazed Invasion with. I knew that I had to win before he got his Hero of the Empire off. I failed to do so and five missions later I was at 44 points, and he, after solving one mission, was at forty. Time ran out at the perfect time, just as I had finished my last mission, (for the five mission specialist points I needed to be above him-- the mission itself was already worth nothing), and just before he was able to dabo for the win. It literally shook with the stress of the game.
 (10 + 488)

        The final confrontation was relaxing in comparison. I had used the knowledge of Eric's deck to my advantage in the first game, and used it even more blatantly in the second. He knew that I could steal any of his three 40+ point missions on the first turn, and so he self seeded under them. I knew that he had no Fair Play, and went after his other missions. He went first, Space Time Portal dropping his hand, ASPing and AMSing and GTTTing, and Megacrewing one of his planet missions. After they were eliminated by my Destroy Radioactive Garbage Scow, I knew I could take my time, and so I slowly and safely stole his three 35 point missions for the win.

        All of the top four players were from Team Mondor. We have proclaimed Calgarian Dominance of ST:CCG in Alberta... that is until Edmonton gets a rematch.

--Olav "the Pendari Champion" Rokne