Bastian Winkelhaus

Bastian Winkelhaus is the 2001 SWCCG World Champion (FreedomCon, Virginia Beach). He was a World Finalist in 1997 and 1999. Trandosite interviewed him on 26 May 2000, before that title.

This page is a fan encyclopedia stub. Facts below are from published SWCCG sources (Trandosite interview and, where noted, Squadron Member tables). It does not add unsourced biography.

Interviews

Trandosite, 26 May 2000

Interview conducted by Rod Latham on Trandosite.

Site player profile:

Bastian Winkelhaus is one of Germany's most exceptional players, who has won a multitude of championships including the Ralltiir Regional twice and Ralltiir Grand Slam. He has often been the Ralltiir Number 1 ranked player, and one of the few European players to make it into the World Top 10. He has twice been to the World Finals, in 1997 and 1999, and both times made it into the Final 12. In 1999, he was the leader after the first day with an impressive 13 (+143). In February 2000, Bastian entered the UK Grand Slam and, although he failed to win the Star Wars event, he did walk away with his second Young Jedi Grand Slam title.

1. How did you get involved in SWCCG, and what attracted you to the game?

When it first came out I bought some cards because I also played Magic allready and I liked the movies. But the one guy I played started to buy much more cards and winning all the games so I quit. Later I found out that some other friends of mine played the game so I got back into it. I played my first tournament in january 1997. One of the guys didn´t want to play tourneys so I could use his cards. About half a year later I bought a collection to have my own cards. I like the fact that the game is much more about skill than magic, the better player in a game has a much higher chance to win. Magic has so many combo decks that it´s often about getting the lucky matchups and not about playing well.

2. If you could change one thing about SWCCG, what would it be?

Dunno. I like it the way it is.

3. How did it feel playing in the World Championships, in both 1997 and 1999? Any highlights?

Worlds are the biggest and best tournament every year, playing there twice and both times going 7-1 on day one makes me really proud. I had the time of my life there. In 97 we played as a team of germans and really kicked some ass, some americans refered to our performance as "german blitzkrieg". The hotel was so high-class I still wonder how they could afford it. And the award ceremony was great. You had to walk about 25 meters through the lines of people standing on both sides applauding while they played the imperial march, each of us was called individually and it was really cool! 1999 was different but also great. I had much more time to play and talk with all the other players and meet people I only knew from the internet. Deciphercon is a great idea but it´s certainly not cheap

4. Do you feel any pressure playing now, when expectations of you must be so high?

I'm very competitive so I´m putting enough pressure on me myself. And if I loose more than one game I know I did something wrong, I don´t need others to tell me.

5. Your reputation for destiny tracking is second-to-none - just how do you do it!? Is this your secret for success?

In reality I´m at least second to Martin Falke. I´m only counting cards. And unless you want to duel or something it´s hardly worth it if you can´t activate your whole reserve deck in one turn. And if you had a high destiny on bottom and you activate it, because you don´t need it this turn and then you spend some force it´s still on the bottom! Magic? Certainly not. But it´s a good feeling if you know you will hit.

6. What are your favourite decks and why?

For light I don´t have one but for dark it´s certainly manipulator, especially Drazin until he was clarified. People might train their decks a lot against different decks but manipulator takes the challenge off the board. You can´t train that against any other deck. If they don´t have a clue what they have to do, my chances of winning are better.

7. Earlier this year, you took part in the UK Grand Slam - what did you think of your time in the UK and the SWCCG you played?

My playing performance was rather bad, not because of my opponents but because I made some mistakes myself. I don´t say that my opponent played bad, I know that there some really good players in the UK, I just didn´t play well and that cost me at least one game. But else it was a blast. A lot of nice people and it was a very relaxed atmosphere, that is until my friend Martin Schuhmacher started kicking chairs around :-) Looking forward to meet each and everyone of them again.

8. If you could play any player in the world, who would you most want to play?

I´d like to play some of the american guys. Good oportunity to earn some ranking points. Both time after worlds my ranking skyrocketed and then slowly went down. Having played a lot of named players allready and having some really great guys here in germany there are not many players I desperately want to play. Maybe some of those Albany guys, the Twiggs. They made a really silly fuzz at deciphercon everytime one of them was called up.

9. Where do you see the game of SWCCG going in the next year?

It´s more than a year between Endor and DS II. I hope they´re going to produce more new material and they´re doing it a little bit faster. And I hope the new game mechanics will work out. Objectives changed the game dramatically, I´m very interested to see how powerful the admirals orders are going to be. But I´m confident that there will be a tournament circuit for at least 3 more years.

10. Any other comments for the Naboo Region and Trandosite readers? Will we be seeing Bastian Winkelhaus win the World Championships this year?

Temper, temper.

First I need to qualify. Allthough I will fly to deciphercon anyway.

Many thanks!

Tournament results

• final twelve, 1997 Decipher World Championship
• Day 1 leader, 1999 Decipher World Championship
• 1st, 2001 Decipher World Championship (def. Martin Akesson, FreedomCon)
• 1st, 2018 and 2019 World Championships (Players Committee era; PC Hall of Fame)

Tournament Results

Date	Event	Format	Finish	Dark	Light
8–10 September 2023	2023 European Championship (Day 1)	Open	—	desert landing site ssav	Communing
2022	2022 Online Championship Series Playoffs (Finals)	Open	—	Bring Him Before Me	Zero Hour
2022	2022 Online Championship Series Playoffs (Semifinals)	Open	—	Ralltiir Operations	Old Allies
2022	2022 Online Championship Series Playoffs (Quarterfinals)	Open	—	Ralltiir Operations	The Galaxy May Need A Legend
2022	2022 Online Championship Series Playoffs (Top 16)	Open	—	Shadow Collective	communing yoda
9–11 September 2022	2022 European Championship (Top 8)	Open	—	Ralltiir Operations	The Galaxy May Need A Legend

See also

• 2023 European Championship
• 2022 Online Championship Series Playoffs
• 2022 European Championship
• List of SWCCG tournaments
• Championships

Sources

• Bastian Winkelhaus interview on Trandosite (26 May 2000; Wayback)
• Interviews index (Wayback 5 April 2005)