Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser) Tournament Report - 2E - Online Event 2012-11-05 - 12:00 AM Faster, Baraka, Columbia? Slower, Phoenix, Machinations! Introduction In the final months of the "Traditional" era, I played almost exclusively Borg and had quite some success with them (runner-up at Euros and Worlds). I consider them the best choice pre-TCC, but since they are a pain to play in Lackey (interlinking, swapping, oh my...), I decided to play an old Columbia deck. I added a few bits and pieces to my old (or rather, Vlaimir and Jirka's original) design, namely a Phoenix engine, and a bunch of Machinations. Round 1 Michael Van Breemen FW (+100)View opponent's ReportView original Report MVB had built another take on his Covenant fun. Using The Ties of Blood and Water (which I didn't see coming), Yassim, Personal Forcefield and multiple Covenants, he tried to get the Shipwright through dilemmas at Investiage Maquis Activity, then let him hop aboard his ride and complete three space missions by himself. That meant that my Phoenix was entirely useless. Seeing the mission setup, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, but I knew the gist was microteaming and dilemma avoidance, so I knew the clock was running right away. I had a decent start, not great (no early AWC), but good personnel and I drew into all my Machinations, so Michael had to blow them all up with Pah-Wraith's Wake so I couldn't use them to fetch a Secret ID and get rid of Sisko. I got my space done without much trouble on my second attempt, and hit Retrieve Material, where I got stopped. Michael got a mission attempt in, I drew one of the very few dilemmas against his crew of four that worked - Hard Time. Luckily, Michael wasn't yet all set up, and I got another two turns. I was stopped once more, but on my next attempt I used two copies of Fitting In to have nobody stopped by Temptation and completed, then sent my crew of 12 on to Survey New World. Michael played a combo of four that should have stopped me most days, but all the random selections went my way - only two stops by the Chandra, no mission skills taken out, so I went on to complete. Michael would have been good to go next turn with nothing to stop him. FW, 100-0- Johannes hit me with Hard Time because I attempted with four people (which I didn't want to do.) Stalled me to go back to Bajor, then went back but it simply wasn't meant to be. My dilemmas were doing enough. Round 2 William Hoskin FW (0) A memorable game, this one! Will played a Traditional version of his Worlds runner-up Klingon deck with Second Heart Worf, Gowron Sole Leader and Relentless to unstop Honor Klingons left and right. His dilemma pile (he used Unfair Comparison very effectively at Worlds) had to be different in this format, but I had no idea what to expect. He attempted first, I stopped him with Agonizing-Dal'rok, killing a Kahmis. Myself, I didn't find a single Sight for Sore Eyes, but drew all my multiples in my first two hands - both Columbias, both Erikas, both Daniels, both Tuckers, both Hoshis. With still only five guys in play, I had to wait another turn. Horribly slow start. Will played more guys, picked them up, and moved to Rescue Prisoners, where I stopped him with two under. I finally had 7 people in play and attempted with a big hand. Will stopped my crew of 7 with a combo using Dreamer and Tactical, and I lost Erika to the kill, and Daniels (bounced to hand by the stop) and the rest of my hand (Archer, Maximilian, more good personnel). Ouch. Will left a crew of four to attempt RP again (I called his bluff and played none), and moved his ship over to my mission and him my Columbia with a Precise Attack. As Erika had been killed, this meant my Columbia was on Range 4 now and couldn't even fly home. Double ouch! On my turn, I played more people, but had no way to pick them up, so I attempted with the six left on the C with three under. Will tried a Gomtuu, but I had Maxwell and Integrity of exactly 33 to pass it, complete the mission, and, with the bonus of the Columbia now active, had the range to fly home - and I even got the 10 bonus points. I repaired the ship, then ended my turn. Will played reinforcements, then double-teamed with crews of 5 and 4. I stopped the first with Hard Time (Will said he messed up the personnel for this attempt), then decided not to burn my Machinations for the second team and again decided not to play anything - they couldn't complete. I played some more personnel and attempted Retrieve Material. Assassination attempt killed Jeremiah Hayes and somebody else, then a filter stopped the rest. I was slowly running out of mission skills for Survey New World... Will eventually completed Rescue Prisoners with his attempt of four (I decided not to use Machinations, because I didn't want to lose the dilemmas I had drawn, and secretly hoped for another fake attempt), then went on to Protect the Escapees. With Worf and Gowron, he dodged some stops and completed that mission, too. Myself, I got stopped again (by Gorgan), but at least I got the Phoenix with Soran aboard over to Repair Station. This was a big gamble, because I knew Will had battle events and Kruge to steal it, but I was hoping he didn't have one ready. Will went to Brute Force, I stopped him with Swashbuckler - Rogue Borg Ambush (Kruge was still at Will's HQ), and saw that Will had only expensive ships and now battle event in hand, so I felt save for another turn. I attempted Retrieve Material again, knowing that I would be stopped again by Gorgan (Will had used Trial Never Ended to get it back). Will attempted BF again, I got one more stop going with a filter into Excalbian Drama. On my turn, I played the Enterprise, completed Retrieve Material, flew home, then sent some guys aboard the Columbia to Repair Station and beamed enough people over to the Phoenix so it couldn't be Kruged. Will eventually completed Brute Force (105 for him now), and flew on to Eliminate Sphere Network. A Hard Time/Outclassed stopped him. With both decks running low, Will had the chance to get the double-deck out win, so I decided to make a run for it and sent 12 people at Survey New World, leaving the Phoenix behind empty and helpless. Will stopped me, and had to put four under to do so. He also executed Hoshi, my only way to complete the Cunning requirement at that point. Luckily, Will didn't draw into a cheap ship and a battle event on his turn, so my Phoenix was safe for another turn and he could only attempt Eliminate Sphere Network again. I played a filter and Fesarius Bluff, ditching my entire hand (5 cards - 2x AWC, 2x ASfSE, Fitting In), but thank to Koloth, Will beat the Cunnning 55. However, he had no Astro or Engineer in his crew, because Korax had been Hard Timed before. Now I had only one turn left, because then Will could have decked himself and I was already decked out. As it turned out, thanks to pitching my entire hand, Malcolm Reed's bonus was no active, and together with Persis, Brennan Scott and T'Pol, amazingly, I had a crew of four that could attempt and complete SNW without giving Will any dilemmas. Next turn, Will could have stolen my Phoenix, or deck himself out, or complete Eliminate Sphere Network to get the win. What a fantastically close game, thanks very much, Will! FW, 100-105. Round 3 Kris Sonsteby FW (+60)View opponent's ReportView original Report We had never played each other before, so I was very much looking forward to this match. Kris ran good old Cadets and was out and attempting early. I found a ship in my opening hand and some good personnel and tried to get A Sight for Sore Eyes going, but Sloan didn't like it and sacrificed the Enterprise-J for it. On our first attempts, we traded Outclassed. I completed on my second attempt by sneaking Travis into my team with the Columbia when Kris took out T'pol with Caretaker's Guests. Flew home, picked up more guys, and got stopped at Retrieve Material with two under (Hard Time and two kills by Back Room Dealings and Rogue Borg Ambush). On Kris' next attempt, my Preventative Repercussions failed against Cadets and so my combo fell apart - he completed. At least I paid attention to his people and realized he didn't have the skills for either of his planet missions unstopped, so I put none under Investigate Massacre. On my turn, I played AWC? to get more guys, picked them up and cheated through Picking up the Pieces/Captain's Holiday with a Fitting In. Kris got some dilemmas under IM, and played Barclay, so I knew the Phoenix was coming. I threw guys at Survey New World, Kris had to put three under to stop me and denied me the mission for that turn. He then launched the Phoenix and got stopped again at IM by Moral Choice. Kris decided not to use his Endangered at SNW, so I completed it and went to Investigate Stalled Ship with a crew of 11. Kris played a combo ending in Gomtuu, but I had seven people left including two Diplomats and completed for the four-mission-win. Great game! FW-100-40. The Kaiser was testing Starfleet, and caught my dilemma pile relatively flat footed with a star studded lineup early. Having ineffective filters against a fellow pro made the game an uphill battle, and a shortage of diplomats mid-game prevented me from making up any of the ground I had lost on the previous two turns. FL 100-40. Round 4 Oliver Thust FW (+100) I went first and had an almost perfect opening hand: I dropped Hoshi, Maxwell, Soval and SfSE, and even had a Columbia. The only thing that was missing was an AWC. No AWC on turn 2 either. None on turn 3. Then Oliver used Korath/ETU to blow it up. I had another one in, but decided to just go for it with the guys I had in play. 8 attempted in space, Oliver missed the Admiral on Maxwell, so got passed Dignitaries and Witnesses I completed right away. Oliver couldn't find a second [PA] Klingon and couldn't play a ship. I played more people (Erika!), picked up reinforcements and went to retrieve Material. A Pattern of Lies fizzled, SI took out Maxwell (replaced by his evil twin Maximilian), then I cheated past A Klingon Matter with Fitting In. Oliver played Kruge and Kang, but still no ship. I hit Survey New World with 10 (with Hayes waiting at Earth to join the attempt). Three people were stopped by Picking up the Pieces, two more by the Chandra, but somehow the five people left had a combined STR of 29 and all the skills, and I won on turn 6. FW, 100-0. Closing Thoughts SF has an excellent skill spread and is almost untouchable by Personal Duty and An Issue of Trust. Temptation can hurt, but thanks to Fitting In, skill-based dilemmas in general were never much of an issue. It can run with the fastest decks out there in Traditional format and only struggles against walls of the sort Will played (i.e., Tactical, Gorgan, etc.). Dilemma pile is stocked with a lot of "helper" dilemmas (Psychokinetic Control, Accelerated Aging, ...) and requires some tracking to be played efficiently.