[Armus]

Yeah, it's not Friday, but I got a question, so I'm putting it out there.

We're wrapping up our first Return to Talos IV event, and I'm still blown away by the fact that we had SIXTEEN people show up and play - that's AMAZING!

Because I like running events that get good turnout, and I'm always looking for ways to make things better, I wanted to give everyone who played a chance to weigh in with feedback, and even if you didn't play, if this sounds interesting to you, I welcome anyone else's thoughts or comments as well.

The unofficial feedback I've received so far has been generally positive, but I think there may have been some individual games that were not the most enjoyable. As such, I'm looking for ways to make it better.

For those of you who played, would you play again, or is this a one-off for you?

For those of you who didn't play, why not? Is there anything we could do with this format that would get you interested in making a deck and throwing down in a future event?

I appreciate any feedback that anyone can provide. It's all helpful for future planning purposes!

Thank you for your time and responses!

[SirDan]

I chose to play Ferengi. They get a mission II, a seeded Marauder, a special download of anyone with the Kurdon, many choices for free plays, and a decent mission selection.

What they don't have is a hand weapon, a PADD, a personnel downloader dilemma, or any real defense against personnel combat. Most of these are all in other expansions.

I lost two games to aggressive Klingon opponents, which is fine. The second loss though was a full lockout, with me unable to draw or play anything. So that wasn't fun. I would have trouble justifying playing this format again knowing those cards are in, but part of that is on me for packing no counters (although I'm guessing it would have taken quit a few).

[Armus]

I chose to play Ferengi. They get a mission II, a seeded Marauder, a special download of anyone with the Kurdon, many choices for free plays, and a decent mission selection.

What they don't have is a hand weapon, a PADD, a personnel downloader dilemma, or any real defense against personnel combat. Most of these are all in other expansions.

I lost two games to aggressive Klingon opponents, which is fine. The second loss though was a full lockout, with me unable to draw or play anything. So that wasn't fun. I would have trouble justifying playing this format again knowing those cards are in, but part of that is on me for packing no counters (although I'm guessing it would have taken quit a few).

Points taken on most of these, but isn't Ferengi Ambush a personnel downloader dilemma that works in this format (though the Ferengi Whip being in Mirror, Mirror isn't helpful on that front)?

[SirDan]

Yep, that's correct. My mistake. They get the downloader... but without the whip there is slaughter in their future!

[Viper2525]

As a returning player after about 2 decades, the limited card pool was a nice entry point. I really appreciated it as a way to get back into the game. I would recommend running similar formats to encourage new players to play.

That being said, I'm a bit more hesitant to play a full card pool 1E game after this. Even here, it was hard to keep track of all the special conditions, card plays, downloads, etc. to make sure I wasn't missing something that might be helpful. Several annoying play mechanisms are also hard to combat if you're not ready or prepared (Parallax Arguers?). The 1E rulebook is huge and having a separate tournament rulebook is also not super helpful. These are more criticisms for the state of 1E now than this specific event... However, they certainly effected my experience here.

Picking Ferengi was fun. I didn't mind the limited options so much since I didn't know better. I certainly felt constricted at times, but I was never sure if it was just being rusty and new to so many things... or it was the cards. I tended to blame the former, rather than the latter.

Overall, I'm looking forward to more Mission to Talos IV series events as a way to slowly get more acquainted with the entire body of ST CCG cards today and hope it will continue to be a fun journey!

[FranklinKenter]

I appreciate any feedback that anyone can provide. It's all helpful for future planning purposes!

Thank you for your time and responses!

The following cards should be removed from the format:

• Barclay's Protomorphosis Disease
  Nearly every deck featured two of these. It strongly warps dilemma choice, and is nearly unrecoverable in a format where card drawing is at a premium.
  I'm not saying it's too good; I am just saying it's ever prevalent and game-defining.
  ~~~
• Klim Dokachin
• Static Warp Bubble
• Telepathic Alien Kidnappers
  
  I do not think there is much to harp on here. Hand destruction is bad. I would be a proponent of putting these back on the OTF ban list. When legal, they are either too slow and not played or too potent and hence game crippling.
  
  ~~~
• Make It So
  
  This card does not seem to be on most people's radars, but the ability to two-shot any ship in one turn can be quite devastating.
  
  ~~
• Kevin Uxbridge
  I am oversimplifying, but a good part of this format comes down to playing rock-paper-scissors based how event-heavy and how Kevin-heavy your deck is:
  - A Kevin-heavy deck will beat an event-heavy deck (trading a card draw for an opponent's card play is a good deal!)
  - An event-heavy deck which will beat a deck with neither (drawing more cards!)
  -A deck with neither will beat a Kevin-heavy deck (making more of the opponent's cards duds!)
  
  Of course, this dynamic is interesting but not fun. The format would be more fun without Kevin Uxbridge. Again, I am not saying Kevin Uxbridge is too good; it just does not add enjoyment value for most players.

[Exon]

I enjoyed the format overall, my games were competitive and fun.

I also looked at playing Ferengi, but decided not to as their options felt a little limited. If I was considering another set in the pool, Rules of Acquisition is kind of the "missing" TNG Ferengi PAQ set.

I didn't play against Franklin's deck, but looking at it, I'm guessing it would have been rough. Taking out Telepathic/Static would probably be for the best.

I wouldn't disagree that Barclays is prevalent and game-defining, but I don't know that that's a bad thing. It's a risky way to take out a crew, compared to, say, just blowing up a ship. The only time my opponent hit it, it did nothing and they got a free 10 points. It was also an interesting tradeoff as a self-seed, especially at a stealable mission, not knowing if my opponent had Shades of Gray.

I wonder if Officer Exchange Program is too strong in this format. Klingons are already good, does it give them too much of an edge? Unlike others, they can always guarantee a personnel in hand.

I'd be interested to see how this format compares with the TNG-logo format coming up in a few months.

[jadziadax8]

I didn't play against Franklin's deck, but looking at it, I'm guessing it would have been rough.

Very rough. I decided he was going to have to earn his win against me by sitting through my dilemma combos.

[SirDan]

I called Devidian Door and ended the game on my own terms.

[AllenGould]

I called Devidian Door and ended the game on my own terms.

That's too slow - you can end the game a turn faster by playing a .

[SirDan]

Lol, I wasn't allowed to have cards