abargar7510 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 25, 2023 1:28 pm
Is anyone willing to talk in general terms about what the meta was like during this era? This around the period of time that I dropped from playing casually. I remember buying boxes of SNW and AA, but I don't remember actually using them at all. Some quick internet searching reveals that records about this period of time are sparse...
Compared to Necessary Evil era, you're only adding three sets (Fractured Time, Reflections and Strange New Worlds) and one add-on (Tenth Anniversary)
From Fractured Time - Tragic Turn dilemma piles can definitely be a thing, killing more people than you expect in a mission attempt. Security Drills adding more skills than you originally have is also very likely in all Fed decks. Tampering with Time to arrange the top three dilemmas is also possible, especially since there's no Alvera to negate those efforts. Unyielding to prevent stops in Borg decks is also pretty good. Explicit Orders gaining skills until end of mission is great for Dominion. Living Legend Kirk is also likely to show up in all Federation decks. Expand the Collective only if they're playing AQ Borg which could be possible thanks to other cards in future sets, especially if they also use Sphere 634.
Reflections - Before the errata, I would've said Hard Time without question but now that it's planet-only, it's still likely to be seen but only on planets. Dignitaries and Witnesses, especially in space with Personal Duty, is still strong especially since it comes back to the play pile. Final Adventure if they think people will play a dual-HQ deck and Full Security Alert if they can get a low-cost Security personnel for extra stops. Unknown Microorganism is also a possibility as is Urgency. Event-wise, Biogenic Weapon is definitely possible to be seen even though Maquis isn't as strong but there's less event destruction at this point in the game. Disadvantage into Advantage is good for TNG decks. Friction might be a surprise for Dominion to take advantage of. Guidance of the Council could see play, especially in conjunction with K'tal and, also from this set, Alexander Rozhenko, Kmtar. Ohhh Nothing Happened could see play if they're worried about specific dilemmas. Quintessence is also possible for Borg players. Maquis also get access to Stalling for Time in this set as well. For Borg, both the Annexation Drone which gets you 5 points for having all AQ missions (Plus, Distant Exploration goes well in this deck format) and Requisitions Drone are available to the Borg. Cardassians get Enabran Tain for all Intel missions and a potentially free Goran. Dominion get Gelnon for AQ-based Dominion decks and a multi-skilled Ixtana'Rax. TNG get Vintner Picard for Biology-based decks. Lastly, the Romulans get Mendak for a multi-skilled smart Romulan.
10th Anniversary - You might see Picard, Starship Captain due to his variety of skills available to him, Data if they're playing DS9 Earth, Borg Queen only if they're assimilating your personnel but most likely you'd see Gowron in Klingon decks because of his ability to prevent stops/kills to Honor Klingons. As for the ships, Enterprise D Explorer is possible if they're doing two space Diplomacy missions.
Strange New Worlds - Where No One Has Gone Before shows up in this set so that's a concern. Other than Outmatched, that's really it for dilemmas in terms of what I expect to see. Brinkmanship is definitely possible for Romulan decks in terms of dealing with Gomtuu and WNOHGB. Exceed Engine Output is another possible event seeing play in terms of non-Ferengi cards. Ascertain and Cluttering Irrelevancies are notable interrupts in the set. Observation Drone in AQ Borg deck, Goran'agar and Omet'iklan are both Strength 9 Dominion personnel, Daneeka getting extra points for Biology missions to go with Vintner, McCoy and Scotty are also pretty good, K'ehyler getting extra points for Diplomacy missions to go with K'mtar, Spock is a great card for Romulans in this set and, to a lesser extent, so is Tebok. For NA's, you could see a whole Android-based deck with Data, Lore, Ruk, Lal, Soong-type Androids, Noonian Soong and Ira Graves. For sprinkled NA's, Tolian Soran is almost a lock for everyone at 0 cost, Sigmund Freud at a 1 cost, 7 cunning hologram and Vic Fontaine limiting the cost people can spend on dilemmas. This is on top of all the Ferengi cards that are available in this set.
Anyway, that's just things to look out for past the first four sets.
Michael
North American Organized Play Coordinator. PM me anytime.