Michael Van Breemen (The Ninja Scot) Tournament Report - 1E - Trek Masters 2016-02-19 - 06:00 PM Atlanta Masters - 1E Introduction So it's been a while since I've written one of these. I didn't know how well this was going to do but I knew that I would get some achievements so that's all that matters. It was also my 300th Star Trek CCG tournament (at least since the achievement system existed) and if memory serves, I played Bajorans the first time that the achievements existed so there's some symmetry... that is, if I remembered that at the time. Round 1 Scott Baughman FW (+100) Scott was running a Hirogen Hologram deck that seemed focused in the Delta Quadrant. I originally thought that it might be a two-mission variant with the Hologram-planet and Genesis Device there so I seeded dilemmas accordingly. I also took away one of this draw engines by sending Kira over to beat up his Duck Blind people, which she did to both of them at once (in true Ninja fashion.) Not that he was necessarily lacking in drawing once he got his high Integrity person for Ancestral Vision but still, it was the principle. Meanwhile, I'm realizing that I forgot HQ: Secure Homeworld and have to do the two Computer Skill/4 Treachery method and completely forgetting that Jo'Bril (in the deck as he has all the skills for Characterize Neutrino Emissions) also has two Treachery and can be downloaded at anytime. Still, I get through Bajor thanks to Genesis Effect getting rid of Dead End, getting me my City of B'hala and Orb of Wisdom. This allows me to use all of the Orb Experiences I have to look at Characterize which has some stuff, namely a Barclay's. As he still has a hidden agenda, I'm assuming that it's the one that doubles its requirements. As I hadn't drawn into McCoy yet but seeing no reason not to, I send a sacrificial team including Kira Taban to die, getting extra points before sending the real team in for the solve. Between Kira Taban, Kivas, Dabo and Process Ore, this was enough for the two mission solve just before he would've gotten his first mission solved. Round 2 Joshua Sheets FW (+70) I don't like Borg, Sam I am. I do not like them with green eggs and ham... That being said, I knew pretty much from the first two missions that he was playing Borg so I seeded cards accordingly and even guessed correctly that he was going to do Harness Particle 010. I wish I had put in Emergent Lifeform as that would've been fun to do but oh well... I was having a hard time drawing anything helpful - no Genesis Effect, no Resistance personnel, just all Chamber people which wasn't helpful at all. Eventually I got Quark and Leeta, using Dabo as a card drawing mechanism until the other pieces showed up. Still, he tried to use a Handshake to draw cards but I played Shrouded Assailant, getting rid of his hand which set him back quite a bit. One Dabo negated his Higher the Fewer and, using the City to get through his Characterize Neutrinos Emissions combo and my ability to pass all sides of Quantum Incursions made it all the easier. He did get to Harness a Particle by avoiding using his Interlink drone's skill share ability to get around my Clown: Bitter Medicine/Chula: The Dice combo but that was that. Round 3 Ryan Sutton FW (+25) He starts off with about four or five people between his opening hand and his Handshake... and unlike the other three games, I don't have a Shrouded Assailant in my opening hand. In fact, I don't draw into one for most of the game. I do get Minister Toraan in my opening hand however but for reasons I don't remember, I don't get out Jo'Bril to fly my Xhosa that I played on my opening turn to ferry him over to Relocate Settlers... I do point out that he can't download his Minister Toraan with ASP due to lack of matching facility/ship so his Process Ore: Mining doesn't get off the ground but he's been churning people out like a madman. He attempts Evaluate Terraforming, getting through to the final dilemma: Medical Crisis which he can't get through and sends Picard to Relocate Settlers, thwarting my Process Ore Mining. I go to Bajor and was surprised to see a female-based combo there which I surprisingly have a good number of women in play and eventually make it through. He makes it through his two space missions but that was it, other than losing more Medical in the process. I get a look at two of the dilemmas at Characterize - Edo Probe was first, Female's Love Interest/Garbage Scow was in the middle. Thinking that Whale Probe was the last dilemma, I keep one crew for the actual solve, one to pass Whale Probe with Guinan and hit the scow and a third to staff the towing ship to move the scow away. Except that it was Ferengi Bug and not Whale Probe. Still, I solved the mission the next turn but was at 78 points because I failed Dabo so... so many times. Eventually, I'm at 98 points between Kivas and Process Ore: Mining, trying to get to 100. So while I'm doing that, he goes for Insurrection - passes Dead End, hits Murasaki Effect, damaging all of the ships (there's like four) and then gets to Kelvan Show of Force which takes out Deanna Troi before Quantum Incursions which he fails. He tries multiple times but either hits AU or Empathy and, on the final turn (which I just need to get Mardah from Quark's for another female that'll pass Matriarchal Society), I hit his Handshake with Shrouded Assailant to deny his draw attempt at Medical for passing Medical Crisis. I solve Relocate Settlers for the win. Round 4 Richard Crandall FW (+65) I don't like duping missions - makes me itchy that my combos are weakened and that I tend to forget what I put there, etc. So duping Bajor and Relocate Settlers did not instill joy joy feelings... until I saw Verify Legendary Journey with no hidden agendas. Now, I know full well that I have but one source of Stellar Cartography in the deck in Tabor and no other ways to get it so I could download him with Defend Homeworld but I wasn't sure that I could get past my combo that easily (Clown: Bitter Medicine/Maglock/Chula: The Dice) if he knew what was coming. Also, he can report to his Defiant and can Ops-download anyone he wants whereas I'll have to draw into things (or Ops download if it's to one of the available sites) He gets by the Maglock eventually (it helps to have a gun) but doesn't have the right attributes to pass the Dice. That's when I swoop in and, between having a phaser from Borum, 2E Bariel's integrity boost and Kivas Fajo's cunning, there likely wasn't a skill that you could name. From there, it was a matter of getting through non-duplicated missions (the only game I didn't solve Bajor) but at the pace that I was drawing/playing people, it wasn't going to be a problem. He ended up solving Refuse Immigration after getting Krim back from the dead (he too was short on Stellar Cartography as well as Navigation for Navigational Hazards) but that was it. Closing Thoughts It worked better than I had expected and, thanks to a lot of luck, I got a playmat and it looks nice. Maybe I'll even get to use it again... :)