Weekly 1E Roundup - 13 NOVEMBER 2019

by Charlie Plaine, Director of First Edition

13th November 2019

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've got an event coming up and you'd like to be featured in this column, feel free to contact me at cplaine@gmail.com or on the forums via PM to MidnightLich.

The Big News

First Edition is twenty-five (25) years old! A quarter of a century of draw 1, play 1 evolving into Incidents, Objectives, Time Locations, Delta Quadrant Spatial Scission and more. The game has been through a ton of ups and downs, but has never stopped even when it looked like it would. We're still here, still playing, and still making new cards. There are some great stories in my weekly question thread where people are talking about their first experiences with 1E. Join in, and share yours - and here's to another 25 years!

The Road to Worlds 2020

We had two major events this past weekend, including Australian Continentals and the Space Coast Masters in Florida in the United States. Greg Dillon (Latok) won the event down under with a Federation solver deck, and Michael Van Breemen won in Florida with a similar deck. Michael's deck had a unique twist which left many of us confused. Fortunately, Michael was stuck in an airport and had plenty of time to respond to my questions for this column.

Space Coast Masters 2019 winner Michael Van Breemen (The Ninja Scot) Deck Title: The Infiltration Has Already Begun... (Michael's deck is also attached to this article below.) Deck Archetype: Primary Solver / Achievement Deck Play Engines: The Final Frontier Draw Engines: Five-Year Mission, Recreation Room, Risk Is Our Business, Kivas Fajo - Collector Bonus Point Mechanics: Preserver Obelisk Dilemma Strategy: Downloader Dilemmas w/Dyson Sphere Door

Michael's Commentary: Okay, I've stared at this deck for fifteen minutes and I don't get it. What's the basic description of the deck? "Michael wanted to get a Treaty and Infiltrator achievement without actually playing one of the affiliations at all or using any of the infiltration cards." In the end, I had two cards that could get some of the Founders into play - Assassination Attempt and Entertaining Display (for Founder Agitator and Kira Founder/Founder Leader respectfully) but otherwise, they weren't going to see play. Couple this with the knowledge that there are dilemmas which count as Infiltration-related cards (Ensure Their Silence, Misdirection and Undercover Agent), I tried to get both my cake and eat it too. How does it work? Starting with the Dominion, I had essentially cleared out my Tent to hold and added the Bluegill Infestation to add as many Dominion personnel (all Founders and almost all of them were Infiltrators for the Issue Secret Orders achievement (https://www.trekcc.org/achievements/index.php?mode=details&levelID=944. Then added the required infiltrator-related cards for the achievement (Covert Agent, Insert Undercover Agent and Getting to Know You), the required Dominion facility and the Treaty: Federation/Dominion. That left me with the rest of the deck. Due to the limit of the personnel/ships that I was able to work with (27), I had to think about my personnel/ships more. Instead of Admiral Riker (with Going to the Topto get U.S.S. Enterprise (Chain of Command) which downloads Wall of Ships which downloads the Future Enterprise, a mouthful), I stuck with just the Future Enterprise and possibly Space-Time Portal drop the ship or just play it if necessary (although drop would be preferable.) Beyond that, I don't think that there's much difference between this and most decks (except that I had to cut the To Boldy Go event which is why my missions were so short in terms of span whenever possible.) Just draw, play people, get a few turns of people into play and then attempt, cheating whenever possible to not get stopped by my opponent from solving my missions. At its core, this is an deck? What draws you to that faction? Yes, this is absolutely a deck. Right now, with the special downloads to get any existing skill in play with the Classic Communicator, adding skills with the other Classic equipment, a special download to get practically any personnel to bypass a dilemma (Dr. McCoy or Guinan), it is difficult to stop them. What was your most memorable moment playing this deck in this event? What was your biggest error? Strangely enough, going for these two achievements gave me a mission against Daniel and Robert. Since I was using the Dyson Sphere Door, I decided to use the other four card spaces in the side deck for two download-and-seed dilemmas - A New Game and Pawns of the Military. Against Daniel, we both seeded Access Archives and I proceeded to seed both of these download-and-seed dilemmas along with Assassination Attempt there. Once I got around his dilemma combo, mine would've done nothing to stop me as my opponent didn't have those dilemmas to download, netting me a 70 point mission with all seven classifications. Against Robert, they allowed me to steal his universal mission by seeding just A New Game and Pawns of the Military and then solved Access Archives for the win. I don't typically expect to be able to "steal" missions so that was probably the biggest positive for me at least. The biggest errors were having only two natural Medical personnel in Dr. McCoy and Lt. Bashir meant that my I'm a Doctor, Not a Bartender was more expensive than I wanted to pay and forgetting to put in Where No One Has Gone Before to deal with Cytherians. It looks like the banned card Scanner Interference was included in your deck. Was that intentional? Did the card matter or see play? It was an honest mistake; I did a search in the deck builder for cards and just randomly picked. No, it never saw play. Other than Defend Homeworld, Q the Referee and Containment Field, I just grabbed the other ten at random. In fact, the only card I used was Defend Homeworld. Did you use any situational cards (cards that you wouldn't expect to be useful in every game)? Are there any whose usefulness exceeded your expectations? Were there any that you wouldn't include if you played the deck again? Other than probably adding another Medical in that I wouldn't have minded to go away with I'm a Doctor, Not a Bartender, I didn't have any situational cards and everything worked the way that I was hoping that it would. The Dyson Sphere Door was the only real surprise. What would you nominate as the MVP card from your deck? The Final Frontier makes probably the strongest raw solver in the game. Borg doesn't count as they don't solve missions. Do you have anything else you'd like to say about your deck? Sometimes it's just fun to see what you can do, even if it doesn't always make sense. "No one ever expects the Dominion Inquisition!"

This Day in Trek

If you're feeling a little mischievous, arrogant, or omnipotent today, I might know why - today is actor John de Lancie's 71st birthday. In Star Trek circles, de Lancis is infamous for playing Q, the god-like being that regularly tormented Picard and crew on Next Generation. Q appeared in eight episodes of TNG, including the pilot and finale, before going on to appear once on DS9 and three times on Voyager. Happy Birthday, Mr. de Lancie; I hope you have some delightful fun today.

Tournament Reports

This past weekend saw three (3) separate tournaments take place, including an OTF Legacy event in Livonia, Michigan. If you don't know, Legacy is the same as Complete but also allows the backwards compatible cards that were removed from Complete in 2018. This event saw three (3) players get together and throw down, including Aaron McCullough (aabecame), David Bowling (tomek), and Jarrod Cafaro (Takket), who placed in that order. Unfortunately, no deck lists are posted at the time of writing this column, so I can't share any more information. Hopefully, all the players had fun!

As I mentioned above in the Road to Worlds, Space Coast Masters took place this weekend. This high level OTF Complete Constructed event saw four (4) players battle; as we covered above, Michael won with his faux Federation/Dominion achievement deck. Host and Director of Communications Daniel Matteson (OKCoyote) took 2nd place with UnDiscovery, a versatile deck. Robert McGinty (creon1690) took 3rd place, while Executive Officer Maggie Geppert took 4th with Deep Space Polyamory; Now with Gender Dilemmas!

Finally, in Australia, four (4) other players threw down for the title of 2019's Australian Continental Champion in an OTF Complete Constructed event. Greg Dillon (Latok) demonstrated why he's one of the top players in the world and claimed victory with AUCC, a Federation cadet/CIVILIAN/shuttlepod deck. Steve Hartmann (chompers) shook off the rust to take the runner-up spot with a cool Hirogen Hologram deck. Peter Hill (leonardmccoy) and Clayton Walton (Worf Son Of Morg) rounded out the day, with Peter playing a / deck and Clayton's deck not being known.

And remember, this column isn't just about official 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.

Tournament Previews

With two major events taking place last weekend, we get to look forward to two more over the next two weeks. First up, this Saturday is the British Nationals in Manchester in the United Kingdom. We've got ten (10) pre-registered players, but just a few hours ago I spoke to host Paddy Tye (KazonPADD) who tells me he's expecting twelve! And this might look to be the single toughest field we've had all year. World Champion and Runner-Up Peter Ludwig (martok88) and Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser) are both planning to attend, as well as European Continental Champion Alex Dixon (alexd) will be looking for victory in his home turf. And one of this author's favorites, New York player Robin Honeycutt (robin1234), is going to be looking to increase his own notable profile. This will be an event to watch!

The following weekend will see Canadian Nationals, which will also be an OTF Complete Constructed event. Home to veteran player Ken Tufts (Worf Son of Mogh), the Ferenginar region is also home to the Van Breemens (Michal a.k.a. The Ninja Scot and Amber a.k.a. Marquetry) who know a thing or two about competitive play. Justin Ford (Resistance-is-futile), also a veteran player, might make an appearance as well. Vancouver is a tough place to play 1E, and we'll eagerly be awaiting the results.

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)

• Franklin Kentner (FranklinKenter) has proposed new rules for an OTF Warp Speed Constructed format. You can check out the post with his proposal here. The format is designed to allow 1E to be played quickly and familiarly, though of course it won't have the same scope as complete play. Still, Franklin is the most intelligent person I've ever met, and a gifted 1E veteran, so his ideas command attention. Take a look.


• Do you know of tools to make custom online games? Forum user LuthySloan is asking for advice on a playform he can use to develop his own online, multiplayer game. He details what he's looking for in his thread; some have suggested Lackey might work. Do you know of anything else that might?


• Now that my Ferengi deck has missions, what else does it need? Last week, we voted on the missions my Ferengi deck would use, and now it's time to work on the non-dilemma seeds. Do you want me to use Reshape the Quadrant and make this a deck? Or do something else? Focus on the AQ? The GQ? Or both? Go sound off and let me know.


• Would you be interested in online Return to Talos IV tournaments? Brian Sykes (Armus) is gauging interest in an online series of tournaments. Return to Talos IV tournaments begin with just Premiere (or nearly), and then slowly add more cards as the progress. They used to be very popular, but haven't been in awhile. Now is a good time to test the waters once again.

The Time Capsule

Last year, after being stuck in development for almost five years, James Heaney (BCSwowbagger) released a new 1E rulebook. This document moved away from PDFs and became a searchable web document (that could still be printed), and was the culmination of years of work from not only James, but the entire 1E Rules Team. It's an amazing tool that is still living today, so check it out if you haven't.

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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 August 2019. My next Office Hours will be scheduled for later this month, and something came up this week. 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.

Discuss this article in this thread.

Decklist

Print Decklist • Copy Deck

This deck is legal in the following Card Pools:

• Complete

This deck is legal in the following Rules Sets:

• Open
• Warp Speed

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

• Three Stops Me
• Federation/Dominion Treaty Player
• Just Because Something's Old...
• Insert Undercover Agent
• The Cage Release

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