Weekly 1E Roundup - 20 MAY 2020

by Charlie Plaine, Director of First Edition

20th May 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

Sad but unsurprising news in the world of gaming, as GenCon has officially announced the cancellation of their 2020 event. GenCon is the largest gaming convention in the United States, and this is the first time in over fifty (50) years that there won't be a GenCon on the calendar. I am sad to miss out on this chance to see everyone and play some good Trek, but I'm glad they are making this decsion early and to keep people safe and healthy. If you've purchased a badge, you can "keep it" and allow it to roll over to GenCon 2021, or you can request a hotel room. Hotels will be automatically refunded, if you acquired one.

In another, more personal note, I apologize for missing the column last week. I've been having a particularly rough go with my mental health, and I really benefitted from the week off. I hope that you will be forgiving.

This Day in Trek

Today is the 60th birthday of actor John Billingsley, best known to those of us in Star Trek circles as Phlox. Phlox was the Denobulian doctor in Star Trek: Enterprise, which originally ran on television from 2001 until 2005. Denobulians were not seen in Star Trek before the fifth series, giving Billingsely the freedom to portray the strange and optimistic Phlox without worry about established canon. I found Phlox to be the breakout character on Enterprise, and much of that is due to Billingsely's talented choices as an actor. Aside from Trek, John Billingsley is a notable character actor, appearing on shows like Leverage, NCIS, 24, and more. Happy birthday, Mr. Billingsely; thank you for giving us the gift of Dr. Phlox.

Tournament Reports

Last week, final results from The Neutral Zone's online release tournament came in, with Jon Carter (pfti) claiming the top spot of the OTF Complete Constructed event. In this release tournament, all players were required to use The Squire's Rules and seed at least two (2) Neutral Zone missions or two (2) missions from The Neutral Zone itself. Jon's deck was , with his drones patrolling around the Neutral Zone to great effect; he also wrote a tournament report covering his experience.

Thanks to Brian's (JeBuS) efforts, every player save one (who's deck was inadvertantely illegal) has posted their deck list. Second and third places were both claimed by Android decks, with Paddy Tye's (KazonPADD) Dickdroids and Niall Matthew's (sexecutioner) Revenge of the Sex-droids taking very different tactics. Joe Kallstrom (Commander Joe) took fourth with a deck. Outside the top four (4), there were lots of different strategies employed, including my choice to try Klingons. Though, given that I was the last place finishing player, it clearly didn't go well (which I also talked about in my tournament report.)

All in all, I had a lot of fun losing most of my games. There are some fun cards in The Neutral Zone, and while The Squire's Rules can be frustratingly random at times, it's also good fun. I hope that, even if you aren't getting to play right now in person, you're either playing online or building some decks with these new cards.

If you're playing, getting together, I want to hear about it! Did you play online? Tell me about it! Play with family? Send me pictures! I'm happy to cover tournaments and casual games in this column - you just have to 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

If you have upcoming events, virtual 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. I typically only see them if they're scheduled in our tournament software, so if you're not using that, please let me know!

Short Treks (In Other News)

• A new article outlines how to get started playing one of the Star Trek CCGs. Thanks in part to the hard work of Social Media Manager Austin Chandler (DarkSabre), we've had a lot of interest in the games coming from Facebook. To aid people finding, or rediscovering, the games, he put together an introduction article with tips and tricks for beginners. This is just the tip of the iceberg, too, as we'll be doing even more to promote joining - or returning - to the game in the future.


• We're playtesting a new TNG-property logo only card pool in June. I'll be covering this more next week, but we have a public playtesting tournament scheduled to kickoff online on Friday, June 5th. We'll be testing a new card pool where players can only build their decks using missions and cards with the TNG-property logo. We're going to be looking for data about how fun the card pool is, what it's missing, what it shouldn't have, and using that data to decide if the format might work as a permanent option in the future. We have twelve (12) players signed up now, I hope you'll consider joining us.


• In honor of Mother's Day, check out a list of Trek's mothers. Boffo97 (Dave Hines), in honor of Mother's Day, put together a list of all of the mothers of Star Trek. It's been a fun thread, with over three pages of discussion about who should and shouldn't count on the list. Check it out if you have some time, and sound off if you think we've missed something. Of course, now I'm going to expect him to make a similar list for Father's Day...


• What episode of Star Trek should inspire a boutique set? Two weeks ago, my Friday Question was about which great - or not-so-great - episodes of Star Trek should inspire a boutique set of their very own. Two weeks later, we've got tons of great suggestons like "Yesterday's Enterprse," "The Nth Degree", "Unimatrix Zero", and "The Galileo Seven." There's still time to pitch your favorite episode-as-a-boutique expansion, so head over to the forums and sound off.


• Should the Andorians get their own affiliation? Pope (princedetenebres) started off this discussion, asking if the Andorians should get their own affiliation in First Edition, much like the Vulcans did. Creating a new affiliation is a massive, massive undertaking - we've only done it once, with the Vulcans in Live Long and Prosper, so it's an interesting idea. What do you think - should the blue Andorians get their own affiliation?
  
• Should card bans be effective immediately? Last week, there was a good amount of discussion about bans - what I consider a necessary tool - and when they take effect. In fact, I turned that topic into my Friday question last week. Our current policy is that bans take effect immediately, but it's been suggested that a grace period of anywhere from a week to a month might be better. What do you think? You can vote in the poll in the linked thread, though it closes tomorrow.

The Time Capsule

Ten (10) years ago, the Continuing Committee went from just casually supporting First Edition to fully supporting the game with the announcement of our first ever, full-sized virtual expansion, Life From Lifelessness. Life From Lifelessness was preceded by a few projects including Referee Reprints, Chain of Command, and Things Past, so it wasn't the first virtual 1E product. It wasn't even the first new 1E cards, but LfL was the first full-sized virtual expansion featuring fifty-four (54) new cards for First Edition, with all the pomp and circumstance therin. You can read the announcement article on the site still today, though some of the graphics don't work anymore.

Life From Lifelessness kicked off the modern era of First Edition, and set us on the path that would lead to The Next Generation, the Official Tournament Format (OTF), and more. Jason Robinette (JasonRed3) and I are credited with working on this expansion, though I'm sure others did too. Happily, Jason is back as a 1E volunteer and I'm sure we'll be seeing his name on new expansion credits in the future. I'm really happy with Life From Lifelessness, because there are cards in that expansion that still see play today, like Medical Crisis and The Genesis Effect. So happy birthday, Life from Lifelessness. It's been an honor to work on this game for the past decade, and I hope to keep doing it for a decade more!

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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 March 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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