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On Wednesday, January 26th, Team Europe’s Captain Bastian Winkelhaus (QMC, ISB) defeated Team USA’s Captain Joe Olson (CCT, Dwell) in a tiebreaker match to win the 2021 Outrider Cup for Team Europe – a match that featured the two players who have won the past four Star Wars CCG World Championships. The contest had amongst the most live viewers on the Players Committee’s Twitch that it has ever had and was an extraordinarily visible event for the Game.
The 12-game GEMP event was knotted at 6 wins a piece after Team USA stormed back from a 4-1 deficit. Olson and Justin Desai went 2-0 in their two match-ups, while Winkelhaus was the lone 2-0 for Team Europe. All matches are viewable on the Players Committee’s YouTube Channel in a dedicated playlist.
Team Europe consisted of Winkelhaus, Justin Branch, Timo Dusel, Quirin Furgut, Ziemowit Skwara and Miguel Vegas Tarin. Team USA included Olson, Justin Desai, Matthew Harrison-Trainor, Hayes Hunter, Paul Myers and Jared Napolitano. Players were mostly placed on teams based on their total Player of the Year point totals for 2020-2021, with a few captain’s picks amongst the 12 participants.
Dark Side finished 8-4 for the event which saw 18 different archetypes – decent deck diversity given no two players from the same team could play the same archetype. The following decks made an appearance from both teams: Ralltiir Operations (V), Communing (Master Qui-Gon both times), Let The Wookiee Win (V) Mains, Agents of Black Sun, Old Allies, and The Galaxy May Need a Legend. An additional 12 decks made one appearance each – all decks are available in text and GEMP-importable format now.
Team Europe, as the winning team, will receive “2021 Outrider Cup” hoodies, similar to those that USA received after winning in 2019, and also a collective Player Card Design of a Reflections II / Shadows of the Empire underlying card – sticking with the “Outrider” theme. Both teams and spectators will receive participation prizes, as well.
Napolitano was the event tournament director, with assists from Bill Kafer and Dan Tartaglione in any areas where there was any potential conflict of interest. The original concept of the event was Chris Gogolen’s in 2019. The Stream Team, led by Tartaglione, covered every match live as it was happening, including an exciting final day where three matches occurred in the afternoon Eastern time, culminating with the 6-6 tied scoreboard.
The format for 2021 has already inspired a local league to emulate the team event’s structure – perhaps one of many such events and a “legacy” of sorts for the 2021 Outrider Cup.
If any players are interested in competing in the 2023 Outrider Cup, they are advised to compete in and perform well in as many events as possible to stockpile Player of the Year points.
