#477327
OK I understand the Romulan Assassin/TR-116 deck pretty well, so I'm going to break it down since some have seen it in action and others haven't and then you guys can argue about whether it's broken*. I think Richard New would as well but I'm unsure how he actually plays them(no tournament reports).
There's two very important things to do with the deck. First you need an Assassin at the opponent's every mission attempt, so you can kill 4+ with your dilemmas each time and ideally capture/kill another two when they fail. Unsound Logic into Simulated Prey/A Taste of Armageddon is super easy and Dereliction removes pretty much any counter play. Second you need to be discarding the opponents cards, so either Reman Subterfuge or the Terix/Trolarak at the opponents missions. TR-116 to kill literally anyone you want, anywhere, added on to those takes it from quite good to nigh unbeatable.
Most other cards are about making that happen, Reprimand, Secret Agenda and Deep Hatred can make sure Blind Spot or Imperial Entanglements do their thing. P&P wins you the game, Secret Conspiracy and Parallel Course can make sure you keep stopping solves even after the mission is buried. Then there's a bunch of superfluous shit for solving your own missions.
Looking at my lost games, Ken on Day 1 had one personnel in play, no cards in hand or the deck and he only solved two missions. Seppel on Day 2 had people in play but couldn't staff his two ships, had no cards in deck and was soon to have none in hand and he solved one mission. Justin had a fair number of people in play, 9ish, cards in hand and in the deck and had solved one mission and might even have been able to solve another but a FW was never going to be possible the way he played it.
I didn't lose to any deck I lost solely to the clock because bringing something so kill prevention heavy that won't get locked out and your going to lose pretty much any other matchup and it's still not gauranteed to work.
I overestimated my ability to not go to time in Europe I naively thought people would be faster than I'm used to for whatever reason. I suppose playing against that deck makes most people think long and hard about how to not get fucked. You can make the deck all in on preventing any mission solves by taking out all the people and events meant for solving your own missions. It's riskier because bad draws going first are pretty much auto losses but it's even more brutal.
ETUs are a very good call against the deck like any kill dilemma pile but 95% of the time are only going to buy you a little bit of time, maybe a turn or two. They're also just an arms race solution because I can run 3 Self-Sealing Stem Bolts too.
The real counter to TR-116 as alluded to in my tournament report is TR-116.
*It is.