Online Sealed Series #1: PaQ AttaQ (Part 1)

by Daniel Matteson, Director of Communications

22nd January 2019

Hi everyone! I've been a fan of online tournament play for many years, and one thing in particular I've always enjoyed is directing online sealed events and generating random cardpools to unsuspecting test subjects - err, I mean ambitious players! I'm excited to announce that I'm beginning a new Online Sealed Series for 2019, beginning January 28th with the first event, a First Edition sealed event called PaQ AttaQ.

What's the Online Sealed Series, and how do I play?

Glad you asked! The Online Sealed Series is a series of monthly online tournaments (alternating between First and Second Edition) that will each involve a sealed cardpool, but each event's cardpool will be a custom pool of my own creation. Events will generally begin on the last Monday of each month (with registered players receiving their cardpools the Friday before that date). If you've never played an online tournament before, it's easy! Follow the directions in this thread to download Lackey, the program we use to play Star Trek CCG online. You'll also need an audio chat program (Skype or Discord are generally accepted).

Each online tournament takes place over several weeks, with one round occurring each week. For each round, you'll be paired with an opponent for that round, and you'll have seven days to schedule a mutually agreeable day and time to get online and play your opponent. After that, just report the winner and final score in the tournament thread, and you're done until the next round! If you win the event, you could win tournament prizes! (And if the event has a high attendance, you might score a sweet tournament foil even if you don't win!)

Sounds good! So what's PaQ AttaQ?

The cardpool for PaQ AttaQ is simpler than it sounds. Essentially, I wanted players to draw from the first three sets in First Edition's history: Premiere, Alternate Universe, and Q-Continuum (sometimes known collectively as PAQ). To do this, players will begin with an Official Tournament Sealed Deck (or OTSD) box. This consists of four packs of Premiere, one pack of Alternate Universe, and 20 fixed cards to smooth out the deck. In addition, I'll throw in one additional pack of Alternate Universe and two packs of Q-Continuum, for a total of eight booster packs!

Sounds like a wacky format! How do I play?

All you have to do is register at the event's tournament page before January 28th. There is no entry fee required. I'll PM players with a cardpool file on or around January 25th with the cards each player will use to build a deck with. Take some time to put a deck together, and on the 28th, check the forums for your first opponent!

If you're more of a Second Edition player, stay tuned for the first Second Edition event in the series in February, called "Big Evil."

One last thing...

Though I won't be playing in this event, I couldn't resist the thought of generating a cardpool and building a deck for myself as an example (and a test of my limited deckbuilding skills). Attached you'll find a sample cardpool that I generated for myself. Next week, I'll have a follow-up article where I try to mold this pile of cards into a somewhat functional deck.

Good luck, and happy gaming!

Discuss this article in this thread.

Decklist

This deck is legal in the following Card Pools:

• Complete
• Traditional
• Virtual
• Block

This deck is legal in the following Rules Sets:

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