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Introduction to the Babylon 5 Collectable Card Game - (B5 CCG)

Card Releases 

Houston, Texas Area Babylon 5 CCG Tournaments  and Demos

My Wants, My Gots (personal trades)

Houston Area locations selling B5 CCG cards

Houston Area Babylon 5 CCG Player's List

Babylon 5 CCG Errata and Clarifications from Precedence

Babylon 5 CCG Rule Discussions and Examples from Rangers

More Stuff
    Player's Tips 
    Errata lists
    Card Lists 

Links

Tournament Results: July 25, 1998 Starter Deck  Tournament: Houston, Texas  by Mike Prasek

     I arrived at Games Unique in Baybrook Mall (shameless plug) at 4:40 and found all of the players (except 1 - car trouble we found out later) just hanging out.  I had hoped to get there early and did, but I guess not early enough.  We adjourned to the food court to stake our claim and sign up so we could start on time.

     Alan Steinberg and Michael Gerstbrein were playing Human, Tim Colston and John Sitton were playing Centauri, Eric Tengan was playing Narn, and Johnny Chu and Steven Prasek were playing Minbari.

    We opened our decks and boosters and had finished trading by 5:10 and were playing by 5:15.  We had set one table of 3 and one of 4 and both games finished so fast, that I didn't have time to take many notes.  Both games were over in 45 minutes.  The Humans at both tables were playing Alliance of Races, and both Minbari were playing Power Politics.  It was neck and neck between the tables and the races.  At Table 2, Tim's Centauri played Slow Poison on Alan's Sinclair, but before the poison could take effect, Steven's Minbari won the game.  Tim's Centauri came in Second, with Alan not far behind.  As soon as I had the scores written down, Table 1 had finished, with Johnny Chu's Minbari Power Politicking to the win.  Eric's Narn pulled off second place, John's Centauri were third and Michael's Humans were pushing hard.  This balance of power was not to last long.

     Game 2 was furious and interesting at both tables, my game notes are a jumble as it all was happening so fast, but I will lay out all of the simultaneous action by table:
 
    Table 1-Michael's Humans, Eric's Narn, Tim's Centauri, and Steven's Minbari.
     Eric's Narn declared war on Tim's Centauri on turn 2.  This was just the start of the fun at this table.  Everything started going Round-robin: everybody was jumping into everybody else's conflicts and the Narn were throwing their weight around everywhere.  Michael's Humans were pursuing Alliance of Races while messing with the balance of power, Steven's Minbari were Power Politicking like a freight train, and then hitting the Narn like cows stopping trains on the tracks, not to mention the Narn fleets and diplomacy. It turned into some strange cooperations: The Narns and Humans were aligned against the Minbari to stop the 3 influence gain per turn, the Minbari and Centauri against the Narn, and everybody keeping an eye on the Humans.  In a Narn versus Centauri conflict the Minbari whacked the only Narn fleet and neutralized it, taking lots of damage in the process.
 
    But Power Politics makes strange bedfellows (to misquote a common phrase). The Humans helped the Narn to build influence using Euphrates Treaty so the Narns could sponsor Kha'Mak to counter the Minbari Power Politics.  The Centauri played Slow Poison on the Narn with Minbari help, but the Humans jumped in to save the Narn.  Late in the game, one Power Politics conflict resolved with 41 support for the Humans with Narn help, and 40 for the Minbari with Centauri support.  Michael's Humans played Upgraded Defenses and after winning Power Politics scored a Major Victory, giving the cooperation points to the Narn.  Final placings at this table Michael's Humans, Steven's Minbari, Tim's Centauri, Eric's Narn.

     Table 2: Johnny's Minbari, Alan's Humans, and John's Centauri.
     I heard a ruckus over at Table 2, saw some fun being had, walked over to Alan and he said to me "I feel left out!"  It seems that John's Centauri played a Border Raid on Johnny's Minbari and ended up being picked on.  It seemed that all of the fun conflicts were being played between the Minbari and Centauri and leaving out Alan's Humans.  But if Johnny's idea of fun was to play Lamentations and Personal Enemies and Killing the Centauri 2nd Battle Fleet all in one turn, Alan should be glad he'd been left out!  A little later, while Johnny's Minbari were Maintaining the Peace, John's Centauri were Testing the Mettle of Alan's Humans and the Minbari attacked and neutralized Drigo, causing him to be discarded in the name of Peace!  Numerous times it could be heard from the Centauri "It was just one little Border Raid!" The game ended when Alan's Humans playing Alliance of Races played Upgraded Defenses on Babylon 5 and scored a Major Victory while spoiling Johnny's Maintain the Peace by potentially winning a Military conflict to boot!  So Johnny played You Are Not Ready on the Military conflict and saving the power to pull into second place.  The order of finish: Alan's Humans, Johnny's Minbari, John's Centauri.

     During the second game, Bill Scott found us in the food court, and told us he had car trouble, but came as soon as he could.  He came ready to play Centauri, but graciously accommodated us when asked to play Narn.  It worked out well for him as he needed a Narn starter deck to finish out his collection.  Thanks, Bill for being so gracious!  We held a short meeting before Game 3 and agreed to split the booster packs we now qualified for, with the winner receiving 2 packs and everyone else receiving one. The winner of the final would receive Past Victories and Destined to Be, and the others in the Final would receive Destined to Be.  Once agreed, we started the third round games.

     Table 1: Michael's Humans, Eric's Narn, John's Centauri, Steven's Minbari
     Game 3 at this table was quick and quiet... first thing I know, Michael's Humans have Alliance of Races out, B5 is at 19, when 4 conflicts hit the table.  Humans have Telepathic Scan on Steven's Minbari, the Minbari have a Power Politics conflict, Eric's Narn have Test Their Mettle on John's Centauri, and the Centauri have Alliance with the Humans.  The Humans win Telepathic Scan, and take You Know My Reputation from Steven's Minbari, Humans win the Power Politics, Eric's Narn win Test Their Mettle from the Centauri, and John's Centauri achieve and Alliance with the Humans, gaining one influence while the Humans gain 2.  Looks like a conflict sweep for the Michael's Humans!

     The game ended in 45 minutes, when the Humans transfer 1 more to bring Babylon 5 to 20, switch to The Hope of Peace, and let the Minbari skate to a win with a tidy 2nd place for themselves.  Eric finished 3rd and John finished 4th with a high point total.  This game was totally different then the last game with lots of wheeling and dealing, and not one attack or war conflict.

     Table 2: Tim's Centauri, Alan's Humans, Johnny's Minbari, and Bill's Narn
     Things were moving along when I caught up with the action at this table.  Bill had a nice infrastructure built with his Narn, strong but unusually quiet for Narn.  It appeared that he wasn't sure what was coming from this group of guys, but boy was I wrong!  Tim's Centauri brought up a Knowledge is Power conflict out against Alan's Humans, and the Narn woke up: the intrigue of the Humans and Narn caused Tim to lose the conflicts and Bill whipped 2 Assigning Blame and 1 Under Pressure on Londo, and Hunted on Urza Jaddo in short order, much to Tim's chagrin.
 Soon I hear a deal being made:  "If I help you, will you *NOT* use Knowledge in Power against me?"  Johnny's Minbari wanted relief from the intrigue conflicts in exchange for a Repairing the Past to remove the Hunted from Tim's Urza Jaddo.  About this time the mall cleanup crew was starting to stack up chairs all around us, as the mall was closing.  Above the racket you could hear Johnny say "Remember, I helped *you*!" to get his Trade Pact passed.  The Trade Pact finally passed, cementing 2nd place in the game for Johnny's Minbari when Alan's Humans clinched the win.  Tim's Centauri finished 3rd with Bill's Narn right on their tail.

     As they were turning off the lights, we determined that the final would be Michael's Humans (by 3 points), Tim's Centauri (by 2 points), Johnny's Minbari (by 1 point) and Eric's Narn.  It was decided to move the Final game to Denny's by the mall, as we didn't want to be "all alone in the night".

     After traipsing through the mall and having to turn back several times due to security gates and locked doors, we bid farewell to Bill and finally made it to Denny's.  We secured two big tables in the back, and ordered drinks, and got the finals down to business.  We handed Shadows boosters out to those not in the finals, and the trading started anew.  Amid the clamor and side games (not to mention the food) the 3rd game was long and hard fought, with Johnny's Minbari Power Politics winning out over Eric's 2nd place Narn, Michael's 3rd place Humans, and Tim's Centauri.  We handed out the prizes and settled our bill with the waiter.  After another round of trading, we broke up the tournament and left seriously considering playing at Denny's the next time.  I think I can speak for the others when I say that we all left tired but pumped after an evening of fun.

Here are the point standings by race:

Minbari:
Johnny Chu       80  (finals winner)
Steven Prasek    79

Centauri:
Timothy Colston  63  (4th in finals)
John Sitton  61

Narn:
Eric Tengan  62  (2nd in finals)
Bill Scott  19  (one game)

Humans:
Michael Gerstbrein 74  (3rd in finals)
Alan Steinberg  71

     Thanks to all who came and played, and thanks for reading.  I am looking forward to my next tournament in late August, and Alan Steinberg's Tournament on August 9th.

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