Return to Talos IV: Season 3

by J, Writing Team Manager

23rd October 2013

Every year starting in the fall and only at The Continuing Committee is the Star Trek: CCG: First Edition tournament series called Return to Talos IV.

This tournament series celebrates the history of the game, now almost 20 years old, by revisiting the metas of before. Starting with the first event, the cards are reintroduced into the play environment in the order that they appeared thereby allowing players to relive the past – for better or worse.

As an added benefit this tournament series is a great opportunity for new or returning players to slowly enter the game by being gradually exposed to the cards over the course of the year. It also often forces players to try out and discover cards which are wholly novel or just long forgotten.

This tournament series is played online and against players all over the world using the Lackey and Skype programs. Each round is played over the course of a week, where the two players schedule their games when it is convenient for both. With 3-5 rounds, depending on the number of participants, tournaments last for a full month.

So what’s your excuse? Haven’t played since The Dominion was released? Well jump right in where you left off!

What’s in store this season:

Event 1: October – currently running, this first event of the third season of Return to Talos IV features a card pool limited to Premiere (+ Space-time Portal, Spacedoor, Open Diplomatic Relations, and Balancing Act) in the Official Tournament Format (OTF).

Event 2: November – An Official Tournament Sealed Deck event in the open format. Each player will be given the twenty OTSD card + 4 packs of Premiere and 2 Packs of Alternate Universe with which to build a deck and compete. But don’t wait to sign up! This event starts on November 4^th.  Sign up right away and you could have a card pool as soon as the 28^th.

Event 3: December – Celebrating many of the old cards banned in the OTF format, this event will be Revised and feature a pre-First Contact card pool. The card copy limit of four plus Tribunal of Q and Q’s Tent: Civil War will serve to counteract old power strategies while still allowing aggressive play and power cards. Come to celebrate the end of the first era of First Edition by building a deck around your old favorite card.

Event 4: January - Deep Space Nine sealed in the Open format. One of the more popular events of the series, January will introduce the first big changes to the game by focusing on the Deep Space Nine expansion. Watch out though, Open format means that I fully intend to steal your best missions!

Event 5: February – This year we will have an extended stay in the Golden Era. First we will play an OTF event featuring all the cards released up to the Blaze of Glory expansion. Bring your best battle decks because this tournament certainly means war.

Event 6: March – The second half of the Golden Era. This time the card pool extends from Premiere through The Trouble with Tribbles using the Revised format. As with Event 3, Tribunal of Q and Q’s Tent: Civil War will be allowed in order to keep Referee cards at your fingertips.

Event 7: April – It’s gonna be a draft. Season 2’s The Trouble with Tribbles + Mirror, Mirror draft was a blast. This time we’ll be featuring four possible starters: Federation, Klingon, Terran Empire, and the KCA.

Event 8: May – Consistently the most popular and most populace event, we will of course be having a Voyager Warp Speed tournament. Expect fast but brutal games as we get to know a whole new quadrant of cards.

Event 9: June – Featuring a Voyager only card pool, the ninth event will expand our knowledge of the Delta Quadrant while introducing the Hirogen affiliation and something called The Borg.

Event 10: July – Back by popular demand is the affiliation draft event. This features all First Edition cards released by Decipher. Each player will bid for and receive an assigned affiliation with which to play the tournament.

Event 11: August/September – The last event spreads across a slightly larger amount of time due to crossing Worlds. This event will celebrate the cards that were released before block – especially the Backwards Compatible ones.

Come for one event or come for all. We expect a fun time to be had by all.  

Discuss this article in this thread.