Last weekend, Kent, Washington played host to the 2015 American Nationals. There were championships for all three games, and by all accounts, good times were had. Amber Van Breemen won the Sportsmanship Award, based on votes cast by her fellow players. Michael Van Breemen won the Second Edition Championship and Kenneth Tufts won the First Edition and Tribbles Championships; let's take a look at what they used.
Title: He played my deck, I play ours Headquarters: Romulus, Seat of Power Deck Size: Large (60+) Deck Archetype: Interference Dilemma Pile Size: Small (20-29) Dilemma Pile Type: Kill Pile Average Draw Deck Card Cost: 2.46 Agonizing Count: 1 Odds of Passing a 3-Skill-Dilemma Legacy: 0.96% See also: The original Slaby TT/ALC deck, Michael's NACC 2014 TT/ALC deck, and Ken's Worlds 2014 day one TT/ALC deck. |
Michael's Commentary: Why did you choose the deck that you used? What other decks did you consider using? Last time I saw that you used a Rom/TT/ALC deck (NACC 2014), it looked quite a bit different. What prompted the switch-up? What sorts of decks were you hoping to face while playing your deck? What decks did you hope not to face? Prior to this tournament, did you have much experience playing this deck (or decks like it)? Did you learn anything new about it when you played it this time? Did you use any situational cards (cards that you wouldn't expect to be useful in every game)? Are there any whose usefulness exceeded your expectations? Were there any that you wouldn't include if you played the deck again? What would you nominate as the MVP card from your deck? Do you have anything else you'd like to say about your deck? |
My Commentary: However, after strong showings at the 2014 continentals and many nationals, the field at Worlds that year teched heavily against it with things like midrange DS9 and Ferengi solvers and Maquis Interference. The deck still performed reasonably well, but people who play Romulans had largely moved on to the new hotness, the Romulan Gamma Quadrant Solver - indeed, just last week, I dismantled my TT/ALC test deck so that I could put together Nick's North American Continentals deck. Well, it looks like I need to print out some more Romulan cards so I can have both decks ready at once. To that end, I looked at the forms that the TT/ALC deck has taken over time, to see what cards are core cards and which ones are tech options. I compiled the data both in spreadsheet form and visually: Known issues: I accidentally left out the Worlds 2014 versions of the Slaby and Tufts decks, though those decks are largely similar to what came before. The result is that Rausmann's versions (which are similarly close to each other) are slightly overrepresented. Also, though the errata to many cards in this deck did not affect their overall usability, the changes to Straight and Steady and (more importantly) Navaar make them no longer appropriate for this deck. Navaar's absence opens up a skill-gain hole, which is probably best filled with Silik (as Michael did here), Gav, and/or Secret Agenda. Finally, it seems I missed a copy of Surprise Party in the 7/7 row. |
Title: OTF - Drink, feast, gamble and be youthfull forever - Worlds 2015 Deck Archetype: Speed Solver Play Engines: Bajoran Resistance Cell, Chamber of Ministers, Son'a Observatory, Insurrection, Quark's Bar, Docking Ports, Klingon Restaurant Draw Engines: Bajoran Resistance Cell, Renewal Scroll, Miss Sarda, Not a Legal Expert Bonus Point Mechanics: Dabo, Kira Taban See also: This is the exact same deck that Ken used a few weeks ago at 2015 Worlds. |
Ken's Commentary: Why did you choose the decks that you used? What other decks did you consider using? What sorts of decks were you hoping to face while playing your deck? What decks did you hope not to face? Prior to this tournament, did you have much experience playing this deck (or decks like it)? Did you learn anything new about it when you played it this time? Did you use any situational cards (cards that you wouldn't expect to be useful in every game)? Are there any whose usefulness exceeded your expectations? Were there any that you wouldn't include if you played the deck again? What would you nominate as the MVP card from your deck? I can figure out a reason for most of the people in the deck, but I just don't know why William T. Riker is there. What's the deal with Riker? Ohhhh! I guess I missed Rybak too. And the Klingon Restaurant. Anyways, what prompted the switch from Borg to Bajoran from day one to day two. Was that the plan all along, or did you change your mind after day one? |
My Commentary: After all that, if the player of this deck manages to complete Collect Metaphasic Particles, the resulting double turn and additional ability to unstop all personnel can just shut the game down right there. Much like Michael's Second Edition deck for this week, this deck just has it all. In addition to Renewal Scroll, which can't be Mirror Imaged, there are four turns of free draws from Bajoran Resistance Cell. Miss Sarda, who I overlooked last time, may not be a reliable draw engine, but she is a free draw engine, one that can also serve as a warm body for mission attempts. Anij's unique ability to delay interrupts can be a lifesaver when confronted with a game-changing Outgunned. Assign Support Personnel can dial up a Gem, providing an AU-icon Empathy personnel to help with a certain seed-as-dilemma doorway. Guess I did have something to say after all. Well, I'll close with this: when Ken used to run this deck with Kivas Fajo - Collector as the primary draw engine, I asked him why not use Handshake; it is the same in total card advantage, and can't be reflected. You might wonder the same about using Handshake over Renewal Scroll, since Handshake actually grants more card advantage and both make you discard stuff. Here's the catch: the Handshake discards are not your choice, and with a bad draw, you could find yourself in the situation where you need to discard Espionage cards before you can download them for the draws with Bajoran Resistance Cell. That's all. Enjoy! |
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