Coming of Age: Evolution

by Paddy Tye, First Edition Creative Manager

25th August 2018

Coming of Age has been out for a few weeks now – hopefully you’ve all had a chance to print and sleeve the Federation, Klingon, Romulan and Ferengi starter decks and introduce a few new players to the game! But what are the next steps? How do they venture further into the game?

Well, my suggestion is to go from Starter Deck matches to “TNG Block” – this is a limited cardpool environment which allows players to modify and play around with their decks, without needing to understand the whole universe of 1E cards out there.

Remind me… What sets are in TNG Block?

Homefront, Homefront II, Homefront III, Homefront IV, Homefront V, Homefront VI

The Next Generation, The Next Generation: Supplemental, Engage, The Sky’s The Limit, Warp Pack: Emissary, Coming of Age

Where to begin?

Well, to tempt some of my own local players to graduate from starter deck matches to TNG Block, I arranged a tournament using modified versions of the TNG starter decks. I’ve attached the Ferengi one below, and there are links here to the Federation, Klingon, and Romulan ones.

These modified variants of the Coming of Age starters bring the decks up to a full 30 seed cards, have the potential to play 3 personnel per turn and the potential to draw extra cards too! The simplicity levels are maintained too – still no Alternate Universe cards, side decks, other quadrants, time locations, Nors, etc!

So what have you changed?

In total, 17 new cards have been added to each deck. This is split between additional seed deck cards, and extra draw deck cards.

Firstly, there are now 25 dilemmas per deck. That’s roughly 4 dilemmas per mission – plus a Dead End each for good luck! Players can just add one or two dilemmas to the existing combos or can build their own. I took 8 dilemmas that are currently unique to each of the 4 TNG starters (2 from each deck) and added the ones not already included in that deck (ie 6 new dilemmas) plus the additional Dead End to take the 18 dilemmas up to 25 dilemmas. The idea is that with more dilemmas to overcome, this should make for more challenging games!

The other seed deck change is the addition of HQ: Defensive Measures – to help protect players from any pesky mission stealing attempts!

One more addition that happens during the seed phase is the addition of a Warp Core card – one for each deck! This helps you play more personnel for free each turn. It gets downloaded by the text on Continuing Mission during the seed phase (previously there wasn’t a target for this download in the deck, other than the Attention All Hands card which was already seeded). This can allow up to 2 free plays each turn then - one from Attention All Hands, one from your deck-specific Warp Core card.

In the draw deck, there are a couple of additional unique personnel – from familiar faces like Wesley Crusher to crucial personnel like Gowron (needed for the Klingon Warp Core card) and an extra ship each. Should you lose a few key personnel to those extra dilemmas, a Regenerate is also added to help retrieve personnel from the discard pile (alternatively, you could use A Second Chance at Life instead).

The last addition to each deck is 4 copies of Let’s See What’s Out There. This event card can net you up to 4 card draws if you started the turn at a mission your opponent seeded (and you didn’t just put your outpost there). If not, it can still get you 2 card draws! Those extra draws will help to fill your hand with potential free card plays, but players will need to think carefully about the setup of the space line – you’ll want at least one opponent’s mission within easy reach!

Feel free to use these suggested modifications to help your local players evolve to the next level of play using TNG Block. There are many more tricks players can try too. A seeded ship for the Ferengi perhaps? If playing Klingon, maybe add Officer Exchange Program to ensure you get that necessary skill from an I.K.S. Pagh related personnel? Maybe your deck would work well with hosting some Scientific Diplomacy? Would a second Romulan Warp Core card with free reports and bonus points be worth stocking in your deck? Lots of options still to explore within TNG Block!

Discuss this article in this thread.

Decklist

Print Decklist • Copy Deck

This deck is legal in the following Card Pools:

• Complete
• Virtual

This deck is legal in the following Rules Sets:

• Modern
• Open
• X-list
• Revised
• Warp Speed

This deck is currently eligible for the following family or families of achievements:

• Ferengi Player
• Four on the Floor
• Highlander
• Temporal Mechanics Give Me a Headache
• Uncommon Quality
• Common Problems
• TNG Ferengi Player
• The Continuing Mission
• We Don't Need Your Help, Q
• Coming of Age Release

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