This forums is for questions, answers, and discussion about First Edition rules, formats, and expansions.
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First Edition Rules Master
By BCSWowbagger (James Heaney)
 - First Edition Rules Master
 -  
Community Contributor
#576166
It's Friday, ergo time for your weekly Friday Question!

Sometimes we on staff get our heads too far up our butts about what makes the game fun in theory and lose sight of what makes the game fun in practice. Rules, whose job description and main qualification is "getting your head way up your butt about stuff like valid responses," is a bit more prone to this than most, and I am Rules Chair, so arguably I am the worst of everyone.

Presumably you're all still playing the game, or you wouldn't be here. Presumably you're all having fun with the game, or you wouldn't be here! So tell me:

What was the most fun deck you played AGAINST in the past 18 months? What made it fun to play against?

If possible, post a link to the deck list.

(BONUS: You can also tell us the most fun deck you played yourself in the past 18 months. But only after you answer the first question! Otherwise Brad will send you to the corner.)
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First Edition Rules Master
By BCSWowbagger (James Heaney)
 - First Edition Rules Master
 -  
Community Contributor
#576167
MY ANSWER:

I really, really enjoy facing Jason Tang's Dominion/Cardassian Labor Camp.

I'm not quite sure why yet. I am at a point in my life where I crave a balance between interference and solving. I want to face decks that care about me and mess around with me a little (and, at this point, I pretty much only play decks that do the same). I refuse to play solitaire anymore, and I won't let me opponents play it even if they want to. On the other hand, I don't like facing steamrollers (even if I'm ready for them), so straight Dominion Slice-and-Dice or Aggro Borg are a bit too far the opposite direction for me.

Tang's Labor Camp deck feels like it's in the sweet spot. The weird thing is, it mostly does play solitaire out in the Gamma Quadrant. All its interaction is through dilemmas, based on the clever use of countdown dilemmas + End Transmission, which Jason has pioneered. This is not normally the kind of interaction that interests me, since dilemmas are static and just part of mission attempts. But, for whatever reason, this particular blend hits my strategic sweet spot and leaves me with the right kind of choices, so I have a really good time with it. I think I'm 1-1 against it now.

Oh, look at that, I asked about real decks and then somehow ended way up my butt about theory again anyway. Funny how that keeps happening. Moving on.

(Runner-Up: Brian Sykes's deck, The NoJay Consortium, was a Rinnak Pire + Space Amoeba deck that was very happy to strike me dead in my own Neutral Zone, and that was a very fun game. That deck was fun to lose to in all the right ways.)

BONUS: my favorite deck played during the past 18 months is probably my Day 1 Worlds deck, Balance of Terror (Or: Engage Cloak Levels Up). I don't like the two-mission win element of it, but I do really like the unique way it's able to battle with opponents and then vanish, which feels very very Romulan. It will never wipe your fleet from the table, but it will make you careful about your supply lines, which is all I want.
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Director of Organized Play
By LORE (Kris Sonsteby)
 - Director of Organized Play
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Architect
1E Andoria Regional Champion 2023
2E Andoria Regional Champion 2023
W.C.T. Chairman's Trophy winner 2014-2015
#576176
BCSWowbagger wrote: Fri Apr 29, 2022 1:40 am I am at a point in my life where I crave a balance between interference and solving. I want to face decks that care about me and mess around with me a little (and, at this point, I pretty much only play decks that do the same). I refuse to play solitaire anymore, and I won't let me opponents play it even if they want to...
So, you are saying you want to play solvers that can do opportune battle? You have come far, my young apprentice. :wink:
 
 - Beta Quadrant
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#576181
LORE wrote: Fri Apr 29, 2022 9:49 am
BCSWowbagger wrote: Fri Apr 29, 2022 1:40 am I am at a point in my life where I crave a balance between interference and solving. I want to face decks that care about me and mess around with me a little (and, at this point, I pretty much only play decks that do the same). I refuse to play solitaire anymore, and I won't let me opponents play it even if they want to...
So, you are saying you want to play solvers that can do opportune battle? You have come far, my young apprentice. :wink:
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: This is my all-time favorite way to play too. Took me a while to realize it (and to be able to do it somewhat well) but reasonably fast solvers with good battle options do well both in terms of performance AND fun.
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