[MidnightLich]

Welcome to today's First Edition Friday Question, where you get a chance to answer questions that will help shape the future of First Edition. If you'd like to catch up on previous entries, here's a list of all of my previous Friday Questions:

11 DEC 2020: What card type would you retire from the game?
27 NOV 2020: What do you want to see in a Winter-holiday themed set?
20 NOV 2020: What are your favorite deck building challenges?
13 NOV 2020: What do you expect to see in the movie block?
6 NOV 2020: Do you enjoy the Promo-a-Week project?
30 OCT 2020: Should I revive the weekly column?
23 OCT 2020: Do you want to see more reprints as set promos?
16 OCT 2020: What OS cards/stories did we miss?
9 OCT 2020: What makes you happy in First Edition?
27 SEPT 2020: What reasons do you use to re-engage older players?
18 SEPT 2020: What are you looking forward to in A Private Little War?
11 SEPT 2020: What old decks/themes do you want us to revisit?
4 SEP 2020: Should tactics continue to target sites on a Nor?
21 AUG 2020: Should you have to be in Ops to return fire on a Nor?
14 AUG 2020: How should we name the Excalbians?
7 AUG 2020: Which ship needs a new card?
31 JULY 2020: Which boutique expansion should we make first?
24 JULY 2020: Do you want to see Xindi introduced to 1E?
17 JULY 2020: What makes a good expansion name?
10 JULY 2020: What would make good theme packs in a Cube draft?
3 JULY 2020: What would be a good name for a Klingon?
26 JUNE 2020: Which card story needs a "do over"?
19 JUNE 2020: Which card do you most want to see added?
12 JUNE 2020: Why do you play First Edition?
5 JUNE 2020: What is 1E's biggest barrier to entry?
29 MAY 2020: What do you think of [SPOILER], a potential card from Project Londo?
22 MAY 2020: What is the worst affiliation in the game?
15 MAY 2020: Should bans be effective immediately?
8 MAY 2020: Which episode should inspire a boutique expansion?
1 MAY 2020: What was the best Star Trek gift you ever received?
24 APR 2020: How often do your dilemmas get scouted?
17 APR 2020: What do you want to know about how we work?
10 APR 2020: Should we make animated series cards?
3 APR 2020: Should we make more Tribbles/Troubles?
27 MAR 2020: Should we develop new cards?
20 MAR 2020: What regions should we focus on in the future?
13 MAR 2020: How would you feel about 1E adding extra "bits"?
6 MAR 2020: What are your favorite "almost good" S/P dilemmas?
28 FEB 2020: What are your favorite decks to play?
21 FEB 2020: Which Decipher expansion most deserves a sequel?
14 FEB 2020: Which "broken link" should be fixed first?
7 FEB 2020: What's your favorite episode of Star Trek?
31 JAN 2020: Which TOS main character needs a new card?
24 JAN 2020: What should qualify a card for the "watch list"?
17 JAN 2020: What card would you unban without changes?
10 JAN 2020: What single card would you ban to improve your game?
3 JAN 2020: What are you looking forward to in The Neutral Zone?
27 DEC 2019: How can we help you recruit new players?
20 DEC 2019: Where do you want the game to be in five years?
13 DEC 2019: Which concepts should 1E "import" from other games?
6 DEC 2019: Which couples should get a dual personnel card?
29 NOV 2019: Which old, unused 1E cards deserve some love?
22 NOV 2019: Which upcoming milestones need celebration?
15 NOV 2019: What's your favorite card image?
11 NOV 2019: What was your first 1E experience?
1 NOV 2019 What is your opinion of the "full page" policy?
25 OCT 2019: What do you want to see in a Halloween set?
18 OCT 2019: What is your favorite expansion?
11 OCT 2019: Which TNG main character needs a new card?
4 OCT 2019: Which Star Trek story needs more cards?
27 SEP 2019: How many points should [SPOILER] be worth?
20 SEP 2019: Which rules always confuse you?
13 SEP 2019: What do you think of [SPOILER]?
6 SEP 2019: Which card needs an alternate image (AI)?
30 AUG 2019: Which characteristic needs love?

Happy Friday folks! I want to wish all of our Jewish players a great final night of Hanukkah as well. I thought I would spend a few weeks asking about deck design and deck building. At the end of this series of questions, I'm hopeful that we'll have some great resources for new and returning players. So veterans: I'm looking at you to provide some insightful answers!

How do you build your decks?

I'm not asking about the physical process of card storage and assembly, but rather your starting point for deck design. Do you pick out your missions first, then your personnel? Or vice versa? Do you find a card you want to build a deck around? Do you look for an achievement to earn? What is your starting point when you go to build a new deck?

Hopefully, we'll all learn something as part of this discussion!

Are you incorporating Trek into your holiday decorating at all? Share some pics! I hope the final month of 2020 is treating you well, and that you're staying safe in these still scary times.

Be well!

-crp

[AllenGould]

I always start with the question: what is this deck trying to do?

[Armus]

As with all things, it depends.

My first step is deciding what I want my deck to do. That could be "meet the requirements of a certain achievement" or "address X, Y, and Z meta concerns" or a number of other factors. Once I make that first principles decision, the rest follows, and even then I address the tactical details in different order depending on a number of factors.

Not much of an answer, I know, but it's a larger and deeper question than you may have intended to ask.

[MidnightLich]

As with all things, it depends.

My first step is deciding what I want my deck to do. That could be "meet the requirements of a certain achievement" or "address X, Y, and Z meta concerns" or a number of other factors. Once I make that first principles decision, the rest follows, and even then I address the tactical details in different order depending on a number of factors.

Not much of an answer, I know, but it's a larger and deeper question than you may have intended to ask.

Nah, I'm aware it's complicated. I'm hoping to get a variety of answers, both in content and length.

-crp

[BCSWowbagger]

I usually look for a deck archetype I haven't played before / haven't played recently / has never been played before and then build around that.

This almost always means building around a specific card or suite of cards, whether it's my (bad) Bajoran speed deck built to use City of B'Hala or my (good) These Are The Voyages deck or my (decent-in-2012) Gaps In Normal Space / Subspace Warp Rift / The Nexus spaceline interference deck that ended up using Ferengi Military Operations as the main play engine just because FMO was good at the time.

Occasionally, I'm vaguer and just like, "I've never played Borg. Let's go play Borg. What's available?" But not often, because that's terrifyingly open.

I feel a deck is successful if it wins a couple of games, but the decks I'm proudest of are the ones that get netdecked. To me, that means that I did something so interesting that somebody else wanted to try it.

Also, I used to build all decks from scratch. The process took two months and the results were meticulous and beautiful. Now, I can't even imagine how I used to have that kind of time for deck building, so I am far more inclined to start with somebody else's netdeck, then modify it to suit my ends. This sloppier approach has measurably impacted my win-loss ratio for the worse, but, hey, at least I'm playing!

[SirRogue]

Nearly all my decks come out of wanting to try and use a certain card or combination of cards I haven't tried before, and then I build the deck around that. Usually that is an engine or objective that is new, or at least new to me, and I look for what works best with that (what affiliation can do it best; if it only works with one affiliation, which iteration of that affiliation am I going to play, etc.). If it's a trick I'm trying to pull, I look at what cards I need to pull that trick, and the best way to get them out. Which personnel play for free that can accomplish my trick? Or, if I need specific personnel, what engine can I play to get them out for free, or better yet, download them early? What missions do I need to be at to do the trick? Everything is always built around whatever crazy goal I've come up with, and then I built out from there.

[BCSWowbagger]

This isn't set in stone, but:

1. Deck goal / archetype
("I want a These Are The Voyages deck")

2. Necessary seeds for goal / archetype, if any
("Gonna need Continuing Mission and Pegasus Search, obvs")

3. Play engines, if not already covered
("Better do Attention All Hands and start the deck with a good base of Holodeck Doors")

4. Personnel
("Grab every ❖ TNG Fed and every Starfleet person with enough INTEGRITY, see how that skill matrix looks")

5. Ships
("Really should have one ship for every ten cards in here, eh?")

6. Draw engines
("Yikes, holograms, so I guess, uh... Cafe de Artistes? With Sergey and Helena maybe? Get what's needed there.")

7. Repeat steps 4-6 at least twice
("That skill matrix doesn't work and there's way too many low-skill organics in here for my play ratios to work. Cut and replace half of them with Holodeck door targets.")

8. Fill the Q's Tent/Civil War Tent, if any (probably with downloads)
("I guess Combat-Ready: Solidarity isn't going to be too hot here, but Combat-Ready: Jury-Rig could be handy! And do I need to save space for Arik Soong?")

9. Other events/interrupts
("Really going to need a few Holo-projectors or I'm going to be a sad lonely spaceman")

10. Repeat steps 4-9 at least once
("This isn't drawing enough. Get a Duck Blind in there with Darian Wallace the Mission Specialist and make it work.")

11. Missions
("Um... what did PantsOfTheTalShiar put in his super-fast TNG deck? Those were good.")

12. Any facilities/other seeds not yet covered
("Obviously Starbase 247 > Federation Outpost, since I have no battle prowess.")

13. Repeat steps 4-12 at least once.
("I'm never really attempting Pegasus Search, and everyone wants to steal it, so let's put in HQ: Defensive Measures and then ignore the mission.")

14. Dilemmas
("Sorry, guys. But hey! Save the best for last!")

15. Repeat steps 12-14 a couple times.

16. Final refinements as revealed in personal testing.

[EnsignMike]

Kinda similarly than how I build Magic MTG decks.

I try to find a central mechanic, then full send commit to it. It doesn’t always translate to STCCG, but I find that to be most interesting. For those of you that play MTG also, it’s like building a whole deck around “double strike” or something like that.

So, I don’t often mix eras or mechanics, I like to keep it tribal, so to speak.

[KazonPADD]

Checks calendar.

Sees Austrian Nationals scheduled for tomorrow.

Quickly.

[jadziadax8]

For 1E, I'm in achievement hunting mode, because goodness knows I won't be winning anything.

[jadziadax8]

Checks calendar.

Sees Austrian Nationals scheduled for tomorrow.

Quickly.

Also, lol @KazonPADD .

[SudenKapala]

Nearly all my decks come out of wanting to try and use a certain card or combination of cards I haven't tried before, and then I build the deck around that.

Pretty much this.
But the 'source material' may be different than Sir Rogue's -- for me, it's more about Trek RPG than about the game / competitive aspect. Usually I have some concepts, cards, or "stories" on the back-burner, and I love it when they go together.
E.g., one of my play group wanted me to build a deck for them to play with, with a lot of Starfleet women. I wanted to have a deck with some Vulcan mechanics. I also wanted to use the Tin Man mission. And I'd never used Q-cards before. I managed to cram those concepts all into 1 deck.

Other example, much more recent: I had been looking to use Empok Nor, since I got it in Vienna. But the deck that I had in mind for it, just never gets off the ground.
Unrelated, I wanted to change / upgrade a deck, but had not thought yet of changing its missions. When I did, I realised I really wanted Empok in the Trivas system, overrun by Ferengi infestators.

[Orbin]

When I tackle deck building I use a spreadsheet template. I usually have an idea of a theme of some sort and then I search through the cards and fill in the template.

The most important part of the template is the "deck" section and I use 6 rows by usually 6 columns (to get a deck size of 36 cards). 6 rows is important to me as I try to balance ratios for my opening. If there is a card type I want to get in my opening hand I devote one row to it (1 card every 6 cards in the deck). Usually a row is devoted to each of the free play mechanics in the deck, one row might be for card draw cards, and then a more generic row for "Ships + other things".

So if I'm building a Here By Invitation Deck I would likely have something like this:
Row 1 = DS9 personnel (free report for HBI)
Row 2 = Quark's Bar Free Reports
Row 3 = Free Play to Chamber of Ministers
Row 4 = Freighters (Free to docking ports)
Row 5 = Useful cards that would cost a card play (personnel, equipment, events, objectives)
Row 6 = Supplemental Card Draws or other useful cards

- James M

[SudenKapala]

That is quite ingenious. Or, well, handy. I love me some spreadsheet, but never thought of this.

[Ensign Q]

i usually start with the seeds to see if the idea works or eats too much slots. then personnel, then missions.
then everything gets adjusted.
dilemma last.