Table of Contents

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

I went to the "I Think Therefore I Con" this weekend (June 27-28) to demo the Babylon 5 CCG.  Due to unfortunate circumstances the demo did not get much exposure, but we were given a demo room and we made a flyer and posted it at the registration table.  When the Tournament director asked us to hold an unofficial tournament with the Con supplying the prizes, we agreed.

We toured the Dealer's Room, and found that most of the dealers had Babylon 5 starters and Premier boosters, and half had Shadows boosters.  One dealer had Babylon 5 books, and another had the life size cutouts of G'Kar and Susan Ivonova.  In fact, the dealer was setting up Susan as we walked up because she had just sold one.

We went to the gaming room and started setting up the table, and we were not even finished getting out the decks when people came up, and we started talking about the game and the show.  We started a demo as soon as we were set up, and played a partial game, until another tournament started and the players needed to leave.  Two people who played the demo said that they had picked Starter decks and boosters as prizes in another tournament, and were glad that they now knew how to play. We then started another game, and two players stayed for the full game, while the other 2 seats changed owners.  At the end of this demo, the players were going to teach their friends how to play.  During the demos, we had people stopping and watching all the time, some who had the game at home, but hadn't really played much.  They watched for a while, asked some questions, and said they would get their friends together and play. All demo participants received the promo card, and a card with my email address, and I have their names and email addresses, so we can keep in touch for demos and tournaments.

The tournament started at 9:30 pm.  This sounds late, but it wasn't because the game room was full until 4am with various games, and the Con ran 24 hours a day. We played two games as we had 4 players.  Two of the players borrowed constructed decks to play.

The first game started uneventfully, but when the Human played Alliance of Races and started transferring influence to B5, no one recognized the danger they were in until the Centauri player boomed out "11 more turns until the end of the game!" much to the chagrin of the Human player.  At this point the action picked up, and so did the humorous, boisterous good time that caused the 40 people in the room to look around to see why we were having so much fun!  As the Humans did nothing but transfer influence to B5, the Centauri then started playing Infiltrate and Exploit conflicts to take an influence from the Humans, while the Narn started playing military conflicts to lower B5 influence.  The other races ganged up and really pounded the Human, keeping him at 3 influence most of the game (although he built to 4 and transferred to B5 when he could).  The Narn sneaked in the back door to win the first game.

After a short break where the players sideboarded and changed their starting hands, we started the second game.  The Human played Alliance of Races early, but the Centauri were ready with Undermine Trust, a Shadows booster Intrigue Conflict card.  Undermine Trust takes 1 influence away from B5 and the card returns to your hand if successful.  This conflict worked until the Humans played Marcus Cole and opposed the conflict with his Intrigue.  When the Centauri was in danger of losing the conflict and the card, he started pleading with the Narn and Minbari to help him win the conflict and save his card.  The Narn agreed and supported his conflict while the Minbari sat there stone-faced and aloof.

  Still in danger of losing, the Centauri continued convincing the Minbari to get involved in the conflict.  The Minbari laughed cruelly and opposed the conflict!  The Human just chuckled. We all wondered what the Minbari was up to, but he wasn't saying. The Centauri lost the conflict, and the card. The Centauri player started a Infiltrate and Exploit conflict to take a Human influence the next turn.  When Marcus Cole opposed the conflict, the Narn hit Marcus with Tu'Pari.  Both Marcus and Tu'Pari became neutralized, and the Centauri won the conflict.  Marcus and Tu'Pari were discarded (supporting characters), and the table became loud again.  On the next turn, when the Humans transferred an influence to B5 and the Centauri puffed himself up to announce "Only 16 more turns until the end of the game!", the Human said simply "Don't You Say A Word", and the entire table went crazy with laughter, causing heads to turn our way again!

  The Narn started the Military Conflicts again, and the Minbari started sponsoring fleets right and left.  The Human built his influence and started pursuing other strategies, but transferred influence to B5 when he could.  The Narn stormed in the door this game to win while the B5 influence had been built to 18.  We never found out what the Minbari strategy was, and when we asked him he simply replied "Minbari never answer a question fully".

The Narn player (who learned the game 20 minutes before the tournament) finished first in the tourney and won the Centauri Starter Deck. The Centauri player (who won second place) won 2 Premier Booster packs, and in a cool show of comeraderie, the Centauri player gave the Minbari (last place finisher) the booster packs. The Minbari opened the packs and had the Grey Council Fleet and some other good cards.  The Human player (experienced, but still tuning his Human deck) received a Premier Booster pack, and was pleased (I think he had good cards in the booster-- he didn't say what cards he had).

The tournament was marked with laughter, quotes from the series, and recounting of favorite scenes ("Moon-faced assassin of joy!") as well as hard fought strategy and lots of cooperation and interplay amongst the players.  All players had a great time, and left the tournament as new friends.

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