Matthew Hayes (karonofborg13) Tournament Report - 1E Revised 2011-03-26 - 03:00 PM We Are Kazon! We Look for Things (the other Collective, no not the Pakleds) aka We like to think of ourselves as the Klingons of the DQ, but, some compare us more to those greedy little trolls, the Ferengi. What can you do? Introduction As I'm an Achievement hound and in looking at which achievements haven't yet been earned in Gold, I chose to build a deck that focused on my least favorite First Edition affiliation, that of the Kazon. (My regard for Bajorans is only slightly above the Klingon/Ferengi meld species of the DQ, that is.) I'll admit I was bummed later in the day, when I discovered that Rogue stole 'Kazon player' out from under me due to the recent Lackey warp speed tourney that was held and entered just by a day earlier, but, like part of the title of my deck, what can you do? Round 1 Allison Berhow FW (+100) Allison has played a good amount of 2E tournies over the last year and this was her first try at 1E. Her husband, Jerad, built her a mostly virtual 1E Starfleet deck that was lean by all accounts. Missing some critical key 'bridge crew' personnel, if I'm not mistaken, and so she worked with what she had. I did my best at teaching her the core structures/standards of the game, having built upon whatever knowledge Jerad had imparted to her prior to the tourney, and even provided key strategy points to help her out as much as possible. We both built up for about 30 minutes of the game, and then both got started on our various mission attempts. In the time it took my deck to work at solving three of my six missions (and score them in approx. two attempts each, if i recall), she got blocked up at two of her missions. One of them, she lost all but Daniels to my well coordinated Your Galaxy Is Impure / Alien Parasites & REM Fatigue Combo dilemma, that allowed me to beam most of her crew down, one by one, to their deaths and the other mission combo of Common Thief (killing Malcolm Reed) with Kazon Bomb, killing the remainder of her originally 8 person away team. She was left with approx. 9 or so personnel on her Sarajevo, with the aforementioned Daniels and a Command staffer on the I.S.S. Avenger, when my Kazon peeps took that third mission for the FW. Round 2 Chris Volk MW (+13) In the current era of 1E play here in Fargo/Moorhead/West Fargo, Chris Volk is the second most active player we have, having learned the game almost simultaneiously with jumping into 2E around 3 1/2 years ago. So, he's always a great challenge. He also has some really nasty decks, if I may say so, so, each battle/game is just that. He and I both enjoy using our respective Ocular Implants (on various Geordi's, androids, and [former] Borg i.e. [FED/NA] Seven of Nine and the like, to see the first dilemma in our opposing combos and get a feel for what's ahead. He got his OI into play first and proceeded to begin seeing nearly all of my 'first cards' in the combos, while it took me a little longer to get my only copy in the deck onto my Sherlock Holmes. When I did, I was able to see his first dilemma, something I can't now recall. So, with Sherlock, and some random Kazon shmuckety shmuck, on my tiny little Kazon Raider, I attempted said mission, clearing the card out of the way, but, then ran into The Higher...The Fewer, so I was automatically down to -2. Generally, good, as I tend to megateam and was very glad that that was 'avoided.' third in his combo was Edo Probe, so, not wanting to lose 10 more points, due to what was waiting for me last (?), I abandoned the attempt. Meanwhile, he was OI viewing my (fairly) nasty first cards in the combos, so he knew which missions to stay away from, or at least, delay his attempts. I subsequently went over and OI'd my planet mission, Combat Training, and saw Fractured Time. With nearly all of my peeps in play, onboard the Kazon Warship (with the Transporter Control Module), and the other two on my Kazon Raider, I beamed 9 down from the Warship to avoid it, while I had something like 6 or 7 equipment in the team, I then hit his second dilemma, something I believe I skill walked through, and last was bopped upside the head with "God." Karden was my only 8 Integrity peep in the away team, while Sherlock and about 3 others of same Integrity were hiding up on the Warship, I nearly completely skewed myself and thought I had cost myself the game as I completely forgot to use my STP to save the ship and crew from that false deity. As Chris had put Access Denied on the mission a few turns earlier, all I was lacking in my 9 person team was a Computer Skill peep. I was burning, when I realized it at the end of this same turn about forgetting to use the STP. So, with the Raider sitting there and not able to beam team Ogla up, I STP'd it to hand and thinking it was going to take me about four more turns to get it, the Computer Skill peep into play, and a TCM from my hand to allow it, time was running out and I was overly concerned that Chris would win the game 0 - -2. Fortunately, the night before the tourney, I had made the smart choice to include the Bothan Vessel in my tent (as a downloadable universal ship via my Spacedoor), so it only took me two turns to get the ship, Sullin (I think, of the Think Tank, with Computer Skill) and a Kazon into play (for free, one of the sect members, of the same sect as those waiting for reinforcements at Combat Training. So, two turns later, after Chris scored his first mission for 30 points, I zipped over with Sullin, the Kazon yahoo, and no TCM needed (as the Bothan Vessel has transporter tech), attempted again, Chris called me on my Computer Skill, I had forgotten to beam Sullin down, and so, luckily with no Mission Debriefing in play, I then beamed him down and attempted & solved for 45 points (as I had 4 Ogla members planetside), with the -2 already in place, it put me at 43 to his 30. Time was called on his turn, after he attempted a second mission, but, not getting past my second card, IIRC, so my MW 43-30. Boy, did I make my share of mistakes and was I ever sweating bullets on this one! Round 3 Jerad Berhow FW (+75)View opponent's ReportView original Report Jerad, the self-professed Borg Master of our local area, participating in his third 1E tourney, and second this year, ran his latest 1E Borg build, and it earned him his "One With The Borg" achievement, as he's played them 8 times in 2E this year alone. He's starting to get the feel for 1E and has a deck that's well on it's way to doing some of the same stuff he's been terrorizing us with in 2E. When that day comes, I will be afraid. (it is around the relative corner, I think) Anyhow, he's getting out four plays (with the Tac Cube free play, the Uni free play, the Mat. Chamb. free play, the regular card play---often a 7of9/BORG Borg Qeen grab of Activate Subcommands) each turn, sometimes netting him 6 peeps a turn. My Sherlock can't keep up, so it's just hit and run at missions. I succeeded in snagging three of my six again, for the win, while his first attempts (with two crews) fortunately sent his Tac Cube off on a Cytherians journey (down the entire length of the DQ spaceline as we were both playing in the same sandbox, entirely. My FW, 100-0. A bit of a power struggle here. My Tribbles did a stop or 2 late game. I did a lot of downloads and free plays to keep my hand low to keep his Holmes out of comission. He Easily made it past my poor dilemma combos and toasted me. i am learning though and getting more to hope and press further each time.