This forums is for questions, answers, and discussion about First Edition rules, formats, and expansions.
 
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#499353
Greetings STCCG players!

I'm entirely new to the STCCG. (For background, I have dabbled in the SWCCG, but mostly play MTG and Netrunner.)

Re-watching TNG on netflix, I found myself wishing there was a deep and complex card game for Star Trek and specifically TNG. Then I remembered decipher made one. So happy to discover that a) There is an active group of players continuing the game and b) I can still obtain sealed product for the early game very affordably! I've been poking around the forums for about a week now absorbing as much as I can, but feel I could use some specific guidance.

For now, I mostly want to explore the TNG setting and learn the game from the ground up. My wife will be my first opponent in a "kitchen-table" environment. Here is what I've purchased so far:
6 x Premiere booster boxes
4 x Alternate Universe booster boxes
2 x OTSD exclusive card pack
1 x Fajo collection

I've also downloaded all the TNG block virtual cards and will print these once I get the hang of the base game.

Are there any other products I should invest in to round out a nice card pool for casual, kitchen-table play??

In the future:

I would really like to play with the Borg Faction [BO] !
What product makes the most sense to purchase in order to play [BO] casually?

It seems First Contact would be the place to start, but is rather pricey. Voyager and The Borg sealed product are still somewhat available and reasonably priced. Should I start there?

Lastly, if/when I get the hang of the game, it would be fun to play with some people in real life (besides my wife). I'm in San Diego, CA. It seems there is at least a small playgroup here. Any tips on weekly/monthly casual meetups?

If I want to really get into the current meta with a modern card pool, what products should I spend my money on?

Thanks for the help and reading this long winded post!
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First Edition Rules Master
 - First Edition Rules Master
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Continuing Committee Member - Retired
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#499356
SnakemanJack wrote: I would really like to play with the Borg Faction [BO] !
What product makes the most sense to purchase in order to play [BO] casually?

It seems First Contact would be the place to start, but is rather pricey. Voyager and The Borg sealed product are still somewhat available and reasonably priced. Should I start there?
Remember that you can print all the cards from the deckbuilder, so you really only need sealed product for (a) limited play (sealed deck/draft), (b) card backers for printed cards, or (c) nostalgia ;)

Voyager doesn't have any Borg content, so you can skip over that one.

First Contact and The Borg are both fairly self-contained in terms of Borg content, so for casual play you can start at either. There are some nice cards that are splashed into other sets - Transwarp Hub from Holodeck Adventures pops to mind - but again: it's all printable, so unless you're looking for a lot of cards from that set (or just like having a cupboard full of cards like me! :shifty: ) I'd point you to printing the cards you want directly.
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By Iron Prime (Dan Van Kampen)
 - Delta Quadrant
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Moderator
#499358
Welcome!
A big "plus one" to everything Allen typed - but I would like to add that you should hold off on playing Borg until you are very comfortable with the regular game.

I would suggest trying the starters from The Next Generation to get up and running. They should make for good kitchen table games. After that you can add in others or start customizing yourself.
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#499359
Iron Prime wrote:Welcome!
A big "plus one" to everything Allen typed - but I would like to add that you should hold off on playing Borg until you are very comfortable with the regular game.
I'll be the devil on the other shoulder - if you're a big :borg: fan and don't mind specializing, you can start there. The caveat is that you will end up with a learning curve when you go back to those other boring affiliations that care about "mission requirements" ;)
 
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#499360
AllenGould wrote:
SnakemanJack wrote: I would really like to play with the Borg Faction [BO] !
What product makes the most sense to purchase in order to play [BO] casually?

It seems First Contact would be the place to start, but is rather pricey. Voyager and The Borg sealed product are still somewhat available and reasonably priced. Should I start there?
Remember that you can print all the cards from the deckbuilder, so you really only need sealed product for (a) limited play (sealed deck/draft), (b) card backers for printed cards, or (c) nostalgia ;)

Voyager doesn't have any Borg content, so you can skip over that one.

First Contact and The Borg are both fairly self-contained in terms of Borg content, so for casual play you can start at either. There are some nice cards that are splashed into other sets - Transwarp Hub from Holodeck Adventures pops to mind - but again: it's all printable, so unless you're looking for a lot of cards from that set (or just like having a cupboard full of cards like me! :shifty: ) I'd point you to printing the cards you want directly.
Thanks AllenGould!

Admittedly, I kinda like having cupboards full of cards :shifty:

I was also trying to purchase the original cards when possible because I thought I read that the images for the traditional cards (not re-printed in a virtual set) were not as high quality.

Thanks again for the info. :D
 
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#499362
Iron Prime wrote:Welcome!
A big "plus one" to everything Allen typed - but I would like to add that you should hold off on playing Borg until you are very comfortable with the regular game.

I would suggest trying the starters from The Next Generation to get up and running. They should make for good kitchen table games. After that you can add in others or start customizing yourself.
Thanks Iron Prime,

I sensed that [BO] was not a good place to start learning the game, and also the TNG starter decks seem like a good place to start.
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By tlmirkes (Tim Mirkes)
 - Beta Quadrant
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#499374
Also, don't forget there's a compromise between [TNG] starters and full-blown [Bor] : [TNG] [Bor] !

With the recent release of Q Who, there's a somewhat stripped down Borg deck that gets the basics of playing the affiliation while removing the more cumbersome elements of deckbuilding (specifically, tailoring for probe results) for beginners. I found it quite a good "testing the waters" deck to see if I actually wanted to get deeper into the Borg, so it might be a good deck to include in your rotation.

If you're playing with a group, maybe have the [TNG] starters handy for them, and you stick with the Q Who Borg deck until you feel assimilated to the affiliation (pun most certainly intended).
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By Spectre9
 - Beta Quadrant
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#499376
The game these days relies heavily on TrekCC designed virtual cards.

Plenty of cool decks to play depending on how much you care about winning.

I like playing competitive decks mostly but have played some jank just for fun.

If you want to build a list by yourself it can take a while to fine tune things. It's easier to just steal one from the decklist section on this site then to tweak it to your liking.
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By bosskamiura (Thomas Kamiura)
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Community Contributor
#499380
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Hello There!
Might I suggest the Online League and The Dojo's Discord Channel?

We're at about 200 players currently from all around the world and The Discord/The Online League is full of returning and/or new players just like yourself. We got a bunch of guys who can walk you through either first & second editions, or Tribbles and specifically Lackey.

...and if you aren't interested in playing online yet - atleast come say hi and make some new chums. We talk about everything (lately Dream Cards, and Picard) and can answer any questions you may have especially when the message boards around here seem lifeless and cold!

We also have the best voice chat in town!


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*Use this link here to sign up!
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#499682
tlmirkes wrote:Also, don't forget there's a compromise between [TNG] starters and full-blown [Bor] : [TNG] [Bor] !

With the recent release of Q Who, there's a somewhat stripped down Borg deck that gets the basics of playing the affiliation while removing the more cumbersome elements of deckbuilding (specifically, tailoring for probe results) for beginners. I found it quite a good "testing the waters" deck to see if I actually wanted to get deeper into the Borg, so it might be a good deck to include in your rotation.

If you're playing with a group, maybe have the [TNG] starters handy for them, and you stick with the Q Who Borg deck until you feel assimilated to the affiliation (pun most certainly intended).
Thanks, tlmirkes. Any chance you could point me to the Borg deck you mentioned?
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By SudenKapala (Suden Käpälä)
 - Delta Quadrant
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#499751
Hi Jack, great to have you around! Cool that your spouse wants to help you get into the game. Is she a Trek fan, too?
As a long-time, mid-level(?) (but casual) player who's long been interested in Borg, I could get behind the suggestion of only trying [TNG] [Bor] for now. Have you found out what we mean by that, in the mean time? As opposed to "regular" [Bor] ? (Nothing regular about Borg in this game, haha!)
I started with Borg in 2015, and still have a hard time with them. They're great, though. But since the easier, [TNG] -era faction for the Borg has been recently created, I lament not waiting until that came to be. :P (Or that [1E-TNG] [Bor] wasn't made 4 years earlier... :lol: )

If you ever decide to really get into the Borg, this repository of Borg threads may help. (No need to read all of it; but there's a lot of links in the first post, to "FAQ" threads. There's links there to articles and a beginner's deck -- possibly the one mentioned above -- for the simpler [1E-TNG] :borg: variety; just search for "Q Who" in the first post. Again: a lot of it is forum-style banter and discussion, but if you've questions that pertain to a link title, you might want to take a peek.)

And don't hesitate to ask! As you see here, there's quite a bit of support. 8) :thumbsup:

However, all affiliation have their fun sides. No need to restrict yourself!

And if there's anything else you want to tell about yourself, your hobbies, connection to Trek or sci-fi or nerd-dom, please go ahead. :) I love to read a personal touch on the forum.

:cheersL:
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First Edition Rules Master
By BCSWowbagger (James Heaney)
 - First Edition Rules Master
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Community Contributor
#499778
SnakemanJack wrote:Thanks, tlmirkes. Any chance you could point me to the Borg deck you mentioned?
Here's a good version of it: https://www.trekcc.org/1e/decklists/ind ... ckID=22230

And here's the expansion that introduced a lot of the key cards: https://www.trekcc.org/1e/index.php?id=217

Incidentally, we had THREE TNG Borg players at our Saturday event, including two players who had spent years being reluctant about trying out Borg. TNG Borg was just what they needed to give Borg a try!
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By Maelwys (Chris Lobban)
 - Gamma Quadrant
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Community Contributor
#499863
mrpurple wrote:Hey all, I wanted to share this resource that helped me learn how to play the game. It covers a ton of the basic stuff needed to get started. I forget who shared it with me about a year a go but the PowerPoints are the best teachers I've had for this game:

https://starshipexcelsior.com/othersites/stccg1e/
Yep, it's a great site!

And just FYI, the person directly above you in this thread (BCSWowbagger) is the person who built and runs that site. ;-)
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By Boffo97 (Dave Hines)
 - Gamma Quadrant
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Retired Moderator
#499864
But when is he finally going to be getting around to insulting everyone in alphabetical order?

I'm hoping jumping from E back to B will make him accidentally skip me. ;)

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