Team Albany
Team Albany is a Star Wars CCG playtest team from Albany, New York (Decipher's Coruscant region). Matt Sokol is a founding member. At DecipherCon 2000 the group built Sokol's Day 3 Dark list overnight, Sokol won the World Championship, and four of them won Sunday's team constructed event.[1][2]
Members[edit]
Sokol's 11 October 2000 trip report names these players as Team Albany at DecipherCon:[1]
| Player | Notes |
|---|---|
| Matt Sokol | Founding member; 2000 World Champion |
| Jonny Chu | "Hugh member"; wrote the Light X-wing list Sokol used on Day 2 |
| Brian Terwilliger | Core; built Sokol's Day 3 Dark and Light overnight |
| Chris Terwilliger | Core; Sokol: "his #2 player in the world wisdom" |
| Art Wright | Flew to Kissimmee early; playtested the Day 3 lists |
| Aaron Kingery | Same; later 2014 World Championship Top 8 |
Marty Terwilliger (Marty Twigg) flew with Sokol and the Terwilligers, and printed the red McDonald's shirts with "Team Albany" on the front. Sokol's brother Dan Sokol missed the convention ("School and money"). Hayes Hunter sat with them as a friend while decks were built; Sokol does not list him as Albany.[1]
The Players Committee Hall of Fame entry for Chu says he was a long-standing member "who at one time had four of the highest-ranking Star Wars players in the world, all playing in the same store," and that he authored the Light list his teammate used to win the 2000 World Championships.[3]
DecipherCon 2000[edit]
Sokol finished 36th on Day 1, then Day 2 on Chu's X-wing Hidden Base and "The Beast" (Bring Him Before Me with Responsibility Of Command). Chu was disqualified Day 1 at 5–2 for a deck-list error. Chris Terwilliger finished 18th on Day 1 and reached Day 2; Yannick Lapointe beat him in the last Day 2 game for a Day 3 seat.[1]
Overnight before Day 3, Art, Aaron, and Brian built Sokol an ISB Operations list from Kim Caton's old ISB. Sokol went to sleep at 4 a.m. and asked them to finish the lists. He beat Lapointe in the Final Confrontation.[1][4]
On Sunday Sokol, Chu, Brian Terwilliger, and Chris Terwilliger won the constructed team event. Brian later wrote: "Matt Sokol also took home the team championship the next day with Johnny Chu, Chris Terwilliger and myself! #TeamAlbanyNeverDies."[5]
Sokol told Trandosite that winning the team tournament was the other highlight of the weekend after the World Finals: "team albany has been trying to do something like that for a while....and to win as a team felt great."[4]
Later[edit]
At the 2014 World Championship in Toronto, Brian Terwilliger finished runner-up. The Top 8 also included Chris Terwilliger (seed 5) and Aaron Kingery (seed 8); Sokol was seed 3. A forum post that weekend read "Good job Team Albany!!!"Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title
Brian posted the tribute video TAWND - Team Albany Will Never Die on 27 May 2021: "A tribute to my best friends and the greatest team in SWCCG history."[6]
Chu later also played with Kashyyyk Train of Dominance.
See also[edit]
- Star Wars CCG teams
- DecipherCon 2000
- 2000 Decipher World Championship
- Matt Sokol · Jonny Chu · Brian Terwilliger · Chris Terwilliger
Sources[edit]
- sokols-dcon-2000-report, Matt Sokol, Decktech (11 October 2000)
- Matt Sokol interview, Trandosite (25 October 2000)
- Awards and Hall of Fame, Players Committee
- @swccg quoting Brian Terwilliger, 14 November 2020
- TAWND - Team Albany Will Never Die
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 sokols-dcon-2000-report, Matt Sokol, Decktech (11 October 2000)
- ↑ Awards and Hall of Fame, Players Committee (Matt Sokol, enshrined 27 April 2019)
- ↑ Awards and Hall of Fame, Players Committee (Jonny Chu, enshrined 10 August 2013)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Matt Sokol interview, Trandosite (25 October 2000)
- ↑ Brian Terwilliger quoted by @swccg, 14 November 2020
- ↑ TAWND - Team Albany Will Never Die, Brian Terwilliger (27 May 2021)