Matthew Zinno (commdecker) Tournament Report - 1E - Online Event 2012-07-01 - 11:00 PM Archer and T'Pol meet the Clan People (OTF, Virtual) Introduction For the first-ever First Edition Virtual format tournament (as Daniel Matteson discovered), I originally planned to play a TNG Fed AMS deck. I knew that in block, and therefore presumably in virtual, getting many draws and free plays is key, and I thought AMS would fit that well and give good bonus points to boot. And I would get to use the various universal Fed mission specialists, and Admiral Riker. But as I tested the deck, I could see it just wasn't coming together. So the day of the beginning of the tournament, I threw it out and went back to my nearly-virtual Starfleet deck I had played in January. I took out the non-virtual parts, and revised things a litle bit. Round 1 Bye BY (0) Then I (quite randomly, I assure you) got the first bye anyway. Round 2 Daniel Matteson FW (+55)View opponent's ReportView original Report Daniel bracketed Earth with his Husnock outpost (with Scientific Diplomacy) and his Romulan Outpost (with Selok); Calder II with the Mercenaries was far away. The threat of battle loomed, but I flew down 3 missions and cleared out Investigate Massacre, down to a failed Linguistic Legerdemain (which hits Starfleet a little harder than anyone else). He pumped his D'Deridex with Tactical Console and Metaphasic Shields, and came and damaged my stopped Enterprise. I rescued everyone with the Sarajevo, and then he blew up the Enterprise on his next turn. While I rebuilt and waited out LL, he tried a space mission, getting War Games and Ankari onto his Husnock ship, and his warbird back to base to damage the docked Sarajevo. I played another copy of Enterprise and flew it back to Investigate Massacre to solve [35], then on to Diplomacy mission where I lost Hoshi to NWBAGT. He destroyed the Sarajevo, then re-attempted the space mission and got 2 ships hit by Gomtuu. On my turn, I had an odd idea. I played my Phoenix for 10 points (17 in hand and 2 in deck at this point, I could afford to lose the "We're Ready" draw), and used up my Enterprise range to fly to Daniel and score the War Games points. Grabbed In the Zone, which doubled my range, effectively restoring it -- and I flew back to Diplomacy Mission to re-attempt. Archer's special skill, used twice, got past Distracted/Apollo, and I solved, now [80-0]. Daniel then hit my second Ankari combo, and I cleared SHIS down to a Maglock. He passed Gomtuu and solved Metaphasic for 45, but then I passed the Maglock and solved SHIS to win. Lost to a Starfleet deck. My dilemma combos were very effective and helped draw the game out, even blowing up Matt's Enterprise, but he played another one and managed to outpace me on mission solving. Round 3 Niall Matthew FW (+65) Niall played Feds, and we duplicated Earth in the middle. He didn't use the Headquarters though, and put his oupost near one end of the spaceline. He made the first attempt there, hitting Dead End. I tried next, beaming down everyone from Enterprise to Investigate Massacre -- and like before, clearing it to a failed LL. (Along the way, I hit FastShip and almost gave him my empty ship in orbit ... but it was the Enterprise, and I came to my senses rather than giving away my stat booster ship.) I spent a few turns waiting it out and building up forces, whilc Niall played Admiral Riker for an Enterprise download chain, and poked in a few places at at my opening wall dilemmas. I poked too, exposing an Edo Probe at Stalled Ship, and then when LL counted down I solved that mission and went past Edo to Whale Probe... which soon left my space and headed towards all of Niall's forces. Once the Whale Probe left I solved Stalled Ship [70], then tried SHIS, pushing past an Edo Probe this time [60] and hitting Personal Duty/Pinned Down/Friendly Fire -- another countdown to wait out, then I could win by solving SHIS and playing the Phoenix which had been in my opening hand. Niall had been delayed by a turn with the Whale Probe at hit outpost, but now reported more cards and tried a space mission, passing the previously revealed WarGames and hitting Ankari. He played Cold Warriors to nullify it, but I Amanda'd it. He then counted and found he could pass it anyway, and soon Oof'd my Amanda (and a Kevin from earlier). Now I was at 50 points, with 45 more I could easily get ... but is that a point box I see? I STP-dropped the Nguqyab to grab the War Games points, and did Phoenix/SHIS to reach 100 (though Niall passed Gomtuu and solved Stellar Rebirth during the FF countdown); final 100-35. Round 4 Danny Nuttall FL (-100) What can I say? Klingons are good, both in block and in virtual. Legitimate Leader gets an extra free play, and OEP lets you dial-a-skill. Danny was also using several copies of AMS, and using it for bonus points. I had one half of the spaceline and he had the other, with Earth all the way at one end (which hampered my mission availability, since I could only fly in one direction with my slow ships). I did poorly against his dilemmas: Arsenal Separated, and I had very few universals; later DigWit, and I had kept my Admiral in reserve. He did well against mine: 2 Honor for Forsaken, 2 Zegovs for Occ.Hzds, and he quickly solved Reported Activity for 50 points. Later Navigate Argolis Cluster for another 50, thanks to enough Dip and Int to pass Gomtuu. Closing Thoughts A good tournament and an intersting format, in which Klingon is definitely strong but Starfleet is also viable. I know some people were discussing how viable Borg would be in Virtual; I suspect one of them may try it next time.