Jeremy Benedict (flrazor) Tournament Report - 2E Standard - Andoria Regional 2011-04-09 - 11:30 AM Kings Ride In Style Introduction I wanted to work on something new and different since non of my decks over the last year has been anything special that looked like a contender. (Not to mention an experimental deck I tried at a previous tourney went 0-5, but it was something I had to work out to see if it was at all viable.) I remember playing against a couple Cardassian decks with Central Command playing a major role so I thought I'd give it a shot with just enough capture to get some extra points to only need 2 missions. Kris helped me with the deck (mostly an old deck of his with the capture additions and some updates) and gave me lots of good advice on playing it. Round 1 Jerad Berhow ML (-1) I had heard so much about Jerad's Borg decks so I knew I was going to be in for a tough matchup from the start. I got going and solved my planet mission early, though I had to burn two Comfort Women to get past a wall to do it. Lots of resources for just one mission already doesn't look great. I captured a drone so I could start getting Labor Camp/Prison Compound points and got rid of Quintessence with Corbin Entek which helped since Jerad couldn't freely download every turn. I got bogged down at my space mission while keeping Jerad occupied with dilemma play. He manages to assimilate a couple people, but I stay ahead going into the final turn. I give everything I can to his last attempt and he uses K&E twice to get past both dilemmas I can throw and he gets his second mission. I had 65 to his 60, but once again I lose to victory conditions playing a deck that scores extra points. It was a very close game and neither of us made any mistakes. One of the tightest and most well-played games I've been involved in for a long time. Round 2 Ben Paulsen FL (-70)View opponent's ReportView original Report Ben gets out the gate early with Samuels and non-humans. I get one of my Central Commands and Labor Camp blown up by Lustful Distraction and can't get around his dilemma play. I capture Lorian on his first mission attempt and grab a D'vela later, but two more are waiting for him to use and abuse. I didn't draw dilemmas very well which doesn't help my cause and Ben easily takes the full win. I played a similar deck last year but with the addition of the cards since regionals last year Ben has a much better contender on his hands and I knew he'd be tough to beat. Always fun to play against Jeremy. Jeremy decided to run the Tain/capture deck, the Tain part I am all to familiar with having run two iterations last year. Jeremy got stuck playing two Central Commands thanks to one being taken out with Lustful Distraction, and then hitting Jeremy with Captain's Holiday making it all for not. Jeremy took out Lorian with capture and then a D'Vela. Destroyed Labor Camp (sorry no bonus points my friend) :) Ending up winning 100-30 thanks to late game heroics from Mr. Tucker swapping dilemma requirements! Round 3 Dan Van Kampen FW (+60)View opponent's ReportView original Report My second Borg opponent of the day so I know I'm probably in for a close match again. Everything in this game rolled my way pretty well: I got captives, stopped Dan's mission attempts with good combos, and made full use of Comfort Women and Central Command to get through missions. I had to solve three missions since I didn't get much going until late with the captives, but the cheaters got me past most of what Dan had to give me. Very good and enjoyable game against a fun player. Always interesting playing Jeremy. I'm interested in a Cardie deck of my own some day so it was neat to see what they can do! I did manage to get a couple of his guys (one was Ezri so I only had her for a bit...). Several fun moments. I don't recall any 'big events' or shifts in momentum - basically he just outplayed me. He probably had a better deck too... :-) A fun and sporting match. Round 4 Steve Nelson FW (+60) Steve brings the new Bajoran Resistance (which I don't have much experience against and I'm trying to read and remember all their abilities all game) and I see Ferenginar which means either Brunt or something unexpected. After I didn't see any Ferengi hit the table I know that it's Brunt and I won't be able to count on Labor Camp for points. The interrupts did all the work and I got through three missions fairly quickly. I managed to shut Steve down on missions, but I could not avoid him getting points from Just Like Old Times - I make the decision to leave the one stopped personnel and make other mission attempts instead of leaving people behind to limit his points which was definitely the right call. Round 5 Nate Lindgren ML (-10) Cadets and Tragic, not the match I wanted to end the day with, but I know Nate and I are going to have a great game no matter what. I get three captives right away with Evek (including Lwaxana Troi, so no big TAtV draws) and get through my planet mission quickly and score some points from Prison Compound. I slow Nate down but he's still able to get through his first mission and get bonus Enterprise-D points which puts us even at 50. Tragic does its job at my space mission with a perfect combo and I get destaffed (one survivor). While I concentrate on rebuilding to auto-pass my space mission and hold off Nate with dilemmas at his space mission, I make two minor errors: First I give him points for Croden since he was low on personnel (no discount) and I had another Prison Compound in hand to score more points to stay ahead which puts him ahead by 5, then I don't get a chance to play PC for points since I needed the counters to play personnel and the following turn would have my space mission and (almost) enough for the full win, but the clock runs out and I don't get that next turn. I have to throw the kitchen sink at Nate twice and manage to stop him both times. On the first I get lucky and stop all his Leadership so he can't solve his mission. I kept trying to get rid of his Bridge Officer's Test with Swashbuckler over and over, but in the final attempt I had to kill Mila and toss a second wall to deal with the two I knew he had in hand. Since time is up I dump my hand with Fesarius Bluff to make sure that he doesn't take the full win. Tough match, but very enjoyable and very well played.