South Dakota masters Draft Results 2023

by Ross Fertel, Skyforce

24th October 2023

South Dakota Masters was the weekend of October 14, 2023. We ran drafts for both games to see if the community could predict the affiliations played.

Starting with First Edition, Kris Sonsteby brought the Klingon/Cardassain Alliance along with the Maquis in I Told You His Way... He Wont Take You Far, though there are far mor Klingon affiliated personnel than any other affiliation, to the point where there are no other affiliations save Non-Aligned showing up on ships, and only one at that! A theme that has developed as of late is having a deck that is easy to play once the setup is complete and there is only one card that is not a noun in the deck, helping play move along smoothly. It is an Objective Historic Coming Together, and there are enough Objectives in the deck as a whole to make full advantage of Taking Charge. Simply manage your resources and win.

The day would ultimately go to Kevin Jaeger with One last ride in Brunts shuttle before the authorities impound it. This might be one of the last times to take full advantage of the ship. Don't be fooled by the Dominion icon on the tournament page, this Ferengi deck gets guys out and wins quickly. Jeager posted the strategy notes in his decklist. If you want to find out more, check out his Tournament Report, chock full of memorable moments. The Hirogen Hajur is in the deck for some needed Strength along with relatively rare Geology.

Looking at the draft, no one got more than two correct, and one entire slate is fully wrong!

Over on the Second Edition side, Sonsteby stayed with the Klingons in We Mortals Are But Shadows and Dust... A Chula assisted dilemma pile helps with getting your strong Klingons out, enhanced with cards like the Sword of Kahless and play to their strength, literally. Note that this deck is selective with the personnel stocked, including Lursa without B'Etor. There is a past icon subtheme, but this deck just wants to get the best cards out.

The day would ultimately go to Jaeger with his Jaeger Bomb 4.1 If you think its dead that means its alive and if you think you are safe then its coming for you!! The immediately prior version seems to be labeled 3.19. You can see the differences for yourself, but the latest iteration has tricks old (James T. Kirk, Original Thinker) and newer (Mark Jameson, Senior Mission Specialist) along with taking out Durg and adding in couple ships to be a bit more refined to helping the deck win.

The draft at this end was much more successful, with two players picking all four affiliations played. Join me in congratulating Armus and Hoss-Drone.

Thanks to everyone for participating and Jeager for keeping the information posted. We'll see you next week with Austrian Nationals for First Edition and European Continentals the week after for Second.

Discuss this article in this thread.