Altered States - Syracuse, NY

I arrived at Altered States at about quarter after 10, after a 45 minute drive from my house. The store however was closed, and wasn't supposed to open until 11. I went to the Carousel Mall and, upon realizing the stores weren't open, returned to Altered States to find Sean, Jon, Francis, and Val along with Pat Bortz from PA. We saw the employees headed in so we made for the door and met Eugene and a new face to me, Aaron Northrup. We went in and after Jesse, Josh, Pat Ziagos, and another new face, Brian Lanady, we started. I was playing a Ferengi Colony deck with Q's-Planet and Vic for help along with Bypass in case of Intermix and 211th Rule to hopefully prevent Writ downloads. I used Sherlock for my draws and Obelisk in case my first hand didn't have a Holodeck Door.
 

Round 1: Me Vs. Joshua Carey AKA Captain Barclay
Well, this was the first game for me in 5 months. We started off and after realizing my missions for Ferengi Trading Post and Husnock Outpost were very far apart, I had a slow start. Josh downloaded P'Chan via TMW and realized after a ruling that he couldn't download his companions. This slowed him down since he was planning on using them for Vic fodder. My turns developed well and I had all the components out early. I managed to Bypass early on for 55 points. However, I had been outseeded and was forced to Tent for my Q's Planet a few turns in. I played mine (he had played his and used Fair Play so my attempt to play it gained me access) and I solved it for my Horgh'na and Ferengi Conferences. He had downloaded a Revolving Door on me first turn which I Wrong Door-ed to him, but he Kevin'd it as well as the one I played on him. I finally got Colony built and Josh tripped a Balancing act, which nailed me for 50 but my Colony quickly fixed that. I was at 84 - -10 when he tented, planning on getting a QtR for an Intermix Ratio. However, seeing his Brunt he decided to play it and download Writ, causing my full loss. I never even saw it coming.

0(-100)
 

Round 2: Bye. My full loss had knocked Josh to first and forced him against Jesse, which he was very unhappy about. He lost that game.

2(-100)
 

Round 3: Me Vs. Val Rogers

Val was playing her "No Mission" deck. It consisted of playing Spot via Devidian Door to an outpost and pouncing someone for The Walls Have Ears and scoring 5 points per turn. She also used Samuel Clemens, and Lore/Kova Tholl/RBM to score 75 points after I
Bypassed for 55 points. Another 20 in the hole.

2(-120)
 

Round 4: Me Vs. Brian Lanady

I had never met Brian before our playing and didn't know what to expect. Seeing his seeds, I immediately knew he was playing a Borg deck. I managed to draw a perfect hand to start and got my Q's Planet setup done and was able to take double turns freely, knowing no Writ could come. He managed to have his ship out and staffed by his 3rd turn, but I had already taken 4 turns and was racking up colony points. I took another double turn set giving him another turn as I was 3 points from winning. He was
unable to do anything, and drew, giving me a 100-0 victory.

4(-20)
 

Round 5: Me Vs. Eugene Sul

This was another quick game. I got another near perfect hand and got my Q's Planet working and out first turn. On my 6th turn, I had scored a total of 44 Colony points, and seeing no Writ in his deck after looking with Jaglom Shrek and his tent being shut
down by my Revolving Door, I Bypassed Diplomatic Conference for the win. He managed to get a few Vulcans to Vulcan but that was all.

6(+80)
 

Round 6: Me Vs. Jesse Carlucci

Well, this was what I feared most. A match against Jesse. I managed to finally win a dice roll, and went first. I was outseeded at the one Geological Survey I had my Vic dilemma's at, so I was forced to head to another to try to stop some people. I hit the other Geological Survey with 2 mis-seeds but was unable to solve it. The next turn, he played Going to the Top and using my seeded War Council, I got my SCIENCE to solve for 20 points. This was all I managed. I went to Q's Planet and hit my first dilemma for a successful download. However, the following dilemma, shall we call it an "act of God,'" ruined my day. Most of my people were toasted, but I still had the Leadership/INTEGRITY to Bypass. However, the next turn he solved Wormhole Negotiations for the
winning 45. I only needed 2 turns; one to get within range of Diplomatic Conference, and another to solve it and score points at my Colony.

FINAL: 6(0)

I ended up pulling a few decent cards in my prizes; Morn, Ru'afo, Foil I. K. C. Bortas, and Kruge, along with some lesser QC and AU rares. I ended in 7th place, thus far into my career, my worst showing at a Territorial/State/Regional tournament. That's
what I get for playing such a risky deck. I also had the joy of public humiliation as Sean announced my full loss first round was due to a Writ. Again, I got what I deserved. Jesse Carlucci, having already gotten second place and the first place transferred down from playing someone who had already taken another championship title, allowed Pat Ziagos to be guaranteed the bye to Worlds and transferring the bye to Continentals to Pat Bortz. I left before the completion of the final confrontation, so I don't know who won.

FINAL RANKING:
1. Patrick Ziagos - 10(+245) - Voyager/DQSS deck
2. Jesse Carlucci - 9(+305) - "Fun with Ooby Dooby"
3. Pat Bortz - 9(+239) - Hirogen/Viidian DQSS
4. Josh Carey - 6(+115) - "It'd Really Be Nice if I Won" (Romulan I believe)
5. Val Rogers - 6(+68) - "No Mission"
6. Jon Gallo - 6(+55) - Borg
7. Ryan Yaeger (me) - 6(0) - "The Slickest of Vic's Tricks" (proven horribly non-slick)
8. Aaron Northrup - 6(-67) - Dominion
9. Eugene Sul - 4(-375) - "Vulcans and Droids"
10. Brian Lanady- 1(-403) - Borg
11. Francis Koziolek 0(-379) - Fed AMS