Jeremy Benedict (flrazor) Tournament Report - 2E 2015-02-28 - 01:00 PM Orange.CSV Introduction I was looking for something new to play and read through other people's Academy decks for inspiration. Michael Van Breemen had played a Ferengi Deck in various combinations last year and the basis of it looked really solid for the format. We discussed the core functionality of the deck and how the pieces fit together, and I made a few tweaks so the dilemma pile had some fallback and filtering just in case people could get past the Acquisition walls, and added a couple copies of some unique personnel that had full sets of mission skills. Round 1 Ryan Heiberg  FW (+100)View opponent's ReportView original Report Ryan was playing a Klingon build featuring Delta missions so he could play his personnel directly to his Voq'Leng. From the get-go I figured he wasn't going to have any Acquisition and was able to one-stop him with Unwanted and Pawn. As he kept playing people at a space mission and couldn't off-load them except to other missions, I kept getting more than enough counters to draw all the dilemma needed to lock him out. Completed all three 30 point missions and added Ferengi Tradition to finish the game. Although I lost 100-0, i had fun. I didn't like Jeremy's deck, but, i was impressed how he LOCKED ME OUT OF MY MISSIONS. i hated that. Round 2 Justin Kaufman FW (+25)View opponent's ReportView original Report I had every reason to believe that I'd be seeing Ronald Tracey in this game and I'd have to watch out as soon as he hit the table. I had to keep repeating the name in my head since I referred to him as "Robert" earlier in the morning by mistake and I needed to get it out of my mind! What I didn't count on was Worf stepping in to prevent events. I lost a copy of Rule #194, but thankfully got out my Commodities and was able to kill him off with He Wasn't Nice. Unfortunately for me that left me with one copy left as Justin set up a two-attempt on his second mission and I had to gamble whether to throw it on the first attempt or save it for the second. I guessed wrong and while I stopped the first I wasn't able to hold off team two. I'm very glad I had some additional dilemmas to fall back on so I could hold him off long enough to complete my third mission for the win. Close game every step of the way and Justin played perfectly. I was slowed down in the early going with Unwanted Guests and Pawn Against Pawn slowing me down early. Fortunately I was able to get Ronald Tracey out to help with them and a well placed use of Karl Jaeger to remove Acquisition personnel from the discard pile. I wasn't quite able to come back and catch Jeremy. Round 3 bandana8472 FW (+30)View opponent's ReportView original Report Frid was playing a Starfleet deck with Damaged crew and MACO (very thematic) so I knew I wasn't going to have to worry about Acquisition, only having enough counters over time since he could play to the Enterprise directly and easily move between missions at will within the Region. I got rid of Archer with He Wasn't Nice to ensure that my backup random selection dilemmas would still work. Getting the first space mission changed up his mission plan since he wasn't able to bank the extra points he needed to get around a Causal from his first mission. I got caught twice not being able to play the right wall but was able to make the most of a Polywater at full price to cut him to 2 short of the Cunning on one of his late missions. Came down to the wire and was a great match against a tough opponent. i was on the ropes all game. zillions of counters and i didn't have insurrection or any aquisition for those awesome "ferengi" dilemmas. my own dilemma pile was obviously not tailored towards orange, either... as i didn't expect to see them in the format. i hung in there to get two missions with some under the last one, iirc, but it wasn't meant to be. awesome meta call by the "ref two-point-oh" (who i kinda thought would play cardassian). congrats on the tourney win, jer! Round 4 Mike Harrington FW (+70) Mike was playing a Battleship TNG deck which is something I am very familiar with and is a great choice for Academy play. Seeing Aid Lost Colony made me a little nervous, but I figured that apart from the possibility of a Navaar that I would be able to hit him with Acquisition walls. He never got her into play so I was able to hold him back repeatedly at his first mission. I was able to solve Feldomite Rush despite a same-turn Insurrection and Mike correctly guessed that I must have Ferengi Tradition since I went for three 30 point missions. I think he was surprised I didn't give him all my Commodities right away until having to hit him with Generous Offer late in the game. Couldn't think of a better match to end the day with. Closing Thoughts The deck was a good meta read for the day, though I dodged several bullets with at least one Terok Nor player in the room doing dilemma removal which would have killed small pile and one opponent not being able to bring their Acquisition personnel into play in time. Thanks again to MVB for the coaching and the deck idea. Some minor changes will be made if I use the deck again, but pulling off big counters was crazy! I once had a 27 counter turn with good use of Quark, Gaila, Prak, two Treasured Collectibles and a copy of Delicate Negotiations to boot. Lots of fun despite giving most opponents no chance to beat my dilemmas.