Weekly 1E Roundup - 15 JANUARY 2020

by Charlie Plaine, Director of First Edition

15th January 2020

Welcome to the Weekly 1E Roundup, a weekly column looking back at the past week in the world of First Edition as well as a preview of the week ahead. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for content, you can contact me at cplaine@gmail.com or on the forums via PM to MidnightLich. I'm happy to write about your tournaments, get togethers, or other 1E-related goings-on. But for now, let's get into the column and see what's been going on in the world of First Edition!

The Big News

Q Who, an eighteen (18) card expansion introducing fully playable Borg, will be releasing this Friday, January 17th, 2020. This expansion was born from the work on The Neutral Zone, which will be coming later this year, and focused on the titular region of space. The design team of Paddy Tye (KazonPADD), Niall Matthew (sexecutioner), Dan Hamman (SirDan), and myself worked hard to create a fun and playable "beginner" Borg experience for players that have always feared the Borg. After all, they are very difficult to play and even harder to master. Q Who provides a stepping stone from standard First Edition play and the atypical play and deck construction needs of a Borg deck.

Tournament Reports

It was quiet last weekend, with no tournaments registered or reported. I did receive a nice email from a player in the Los Angeles area, Graham Matuszewski (matuszeg), letting me know that he and his group of five friends have been playing regularly. Previously, they'd stuck to Decipher-era traditional, but now they're branching out to embrace the full virtual experience. They got together last week and played a few games, including a starter vs. starter game for the benefit of a new player.

Graham Matuszewski (matuszeg) played "Oath of the Black Hole", a Kevin Jaeger (Hoss-Drone) deck against Matt Lubner (mattlubner) who tried out Maggie Geppert's (jadziadax) So, I'm a New/Old First Edition Player, Non-Aligned Edition deck. Both players were trying out new decks with new strategies they weren't used to, hoping to expand their knowledge of the game. Graham won over Matt with a final score of 105 to 35.

Meanwhile, Jon Callan (JCallan1) defeated Robert Bozich (robotBozic) in a vs starter deck match, 100-65. They played with starter decks because a first time player was shadowing Robert to learn how to play. That's just awesome, and I hope that all five of you had a fantastic time. Graham reports they're planning to get together again next Wednesday, so I hope to hear back from these guys in two weeks. Thank you for reaching out and writing in!

Outside of tournaments, we'd love to cover casual games too! If you'd like to have your 1E get together covered in this column, let me know! You can find my contact information at the bottom of every column, and you're welcome to email me, PM me, or just post on the forums. So if you're out there, playing 1E in any way, shape, or form, tell us about it!

Tournament Previews

We've got two tournaments taking place this coming weekend. On Saturday, in Hull in the UK, there will be an OTF Complete Constructed event that's also serving as a release event for Q Who. This means that those cards will be legal one week earlier than usual for this event, giving our British friends the first chance to try out Borg. Alex Dixon (alexd), Gary (admiralgary), and Tony Thrustle (NCC-1764) will join expansion designer Paddy Tye in the tournament. I can't wait to hear reports from this fun release event!

On Sunday, in Brooklyn, New York in the USA, First Edition returns to the Lock Yard with an OTF Complete Constructed tournament. Currently there are three (3) players pre-registered for the event, including powerhouse player Robin Honeycutt (robin1234). Joining him will be Jack Johnson (NOTaMerryMan) and restaurant owner Christopher Ghiorzi (RomulanAleSmith), but I'm certain that all will have fun.

If you have upcoming events, get togethers, or anything else scheduled that's 1E related, let me know. I'd love to feature you and your friends in this column.

Short Takes (In Other News)

• Ask questions of the Q Who designers. In a long running tradition dating back to the Decipher-era, a Q&A thread has been posted for Q Who. In these threads, you're all invited to ask questions about the expansion and its development, and the designers will pop in to answer them! It's fun, and a great way to get extra information and insight into the development process.


• The Omnibus Period of Review, including yours truly, is this Sunday. If you have questions about First Edition that you'd like to ask, there's still time. Pop over to the thread on the forums and ask anything you like. The session will be this Sunday, January 19th, at 11 AM Eastern Standard Time. I hope to see you there!


• The thread outlining the reasons cards on the OTF Ban List were banned in complete. Researched and compiled by James Heaney (BCSWowbagger), this thread is a treasure trove of information on the discussions and factors that led to each card on the ban list finding its way there. Some of the information is lost to history, but what hasn't been in now collected in one place. Thank you James!


• What one card would you ban to improve the quality of your 1E experience? That was the most recent Friday question. There's still time to participate, and you can use any criteria you like to decide which card you want to ban. Is there something that ruins your favorite deck? A dilemma you're tired of seeing? Go sign off!


• Do you think going first is too much of an advantage? A great discussion has started about the advantages of having the first turn in 1E. In the thread, the power of going first is debated and lots of ideas for how to offset this power have been proposed. Lots of the discussion ventures into organized play territory, but it's an interesting discussion in any case.


• What do you think about special downloads? Newly minted Playtest Manager Austin Chandler (DarkSabre) has started a discussion about special downloads. Austin asks for responses to several good questions, including what special downloads mean to you when deck building and great, memorable moments revolving around using them. Go share your thoughts!


• Do you remember the origin of the term "valid response"? Jason Tang (Pants o.t. Tal Shiar) asked this question on our Rules forum, trying to track down when Decipher switched to the valid response model of interrupts. In the original days of the game, interrupts could be played at any time, and valid responses came along later to help curb some early abusive interrupts.

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That's all for this week's roundup of First Edition news and events. For more news, you can follow The Continuing Committee on Facebook, Twitter, or bookmark our front page. News about upcoming First Edition projects can be found in the most recent Project Status Update from January 2020. If you've got an event coming up and you'd like to be featured in this column, or if you have comments about this column's content, feel free to contact me at cplaine@gmail.com or on the forums via PM to MidnightLich. Until next week, may you expand your power in the universe and live long and prosper.

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