Matthew Zinno (commdecker) Tournament Report - 1E - Online Event 2015-08-10 - 12:00 AM The Stars Are Made of Latinum II Introduction I had played Ferengi/Dominion before, but it was before the errata to Where Opportunities Are Made which simplifies the compatibility dynamics of the deck. It was also before there was an achievement for this pairing. So I revised the deck in light of this errata (and the achievement requirements), and made it ready for a tournament! And the tournament that was available this month was TK's "Dojo" series. I hadn't played in one of these before, partly because there had always been other alternatives, and partly because of the trash talk that's usually found in its board threads. This one looked to have less of that, because it had a special "memorial" theme, so I dove in. Round 1 Pope MW (+90) Pope (Brady) had a cross-property Romulan battle deck, which quickly used Penk to put massive weaponry near DS9. Once I traded my second GPL for Ablative Armor (though a turn after I planned, since I couldn't do it on the same turn as Gint), I headed for Gamma to get away from him. My first mission attempt there ended at an Edo Probe, and the second ended with a Scout Encounter battle ... where one of the personnel was Mavek, with his threatening download. Pope moved his Tsunkatse ship over to Gamma, and I realized that I might not want to spend as much time here as I'd planned. I did have two ships in Gamma already (frtr and a Dosi ship), and reported another Dosi ship, flying all 3 to the Scout Encounter, thinking of blowing up that scout. Before I did, Pope STP-dropped the Decius there. I switched from battle back to solving instead, and sent a wave of people at the mission again ... triggering a QSL and freezing everything. On the next turn, I reported Captain Nog, used him and Morn to GTTT MrSisko, and they took off on another Frtr. I learned later that Pope considered using Tractor Lock after I undocked, but figured I couldn't get all the way to the QSL. I flew to Gamma (unstopping with Sisko and a Nava who hadn't left after the Conference), and used the span reduction from TFSW to reach the QSL and un-static everybody. Another attempt solved the mission, despite Nog losing his skills to Mavek; he even still contributed his classification, and by "helping" he contributed his 75th Rule as well! With my two Rules, this got me to 50 points. I then headed back to Alpha with my full-range ships. In Alpha, I took several whacks at Ferenginar (Dom for attemptabiity, Nog or Ferengi skills for requirements), losing Zyree and Ishka to female filters. I figured the last dilemma to be MatSoc, so arranged for my 2Pimoo to get there to pass it, and they did. I made it my goal to solve that turn, and found some mission skills on people I'd left at the station (after coming back to Alpha), and they tried to get to Ferenginar ... and that's when the Tractor Lock hit. My Pimoos had some range left, so they came to DS9 and attacked his vessel, breaking the lock, and my solvers came over. Pope thought we were done then, but I only got 40 for that solve -- the 75R on my AQ people only works if I solve a GQ mission. So on my next turn (after Pope destroyed my Pimoos, and also took a ship and tried his PNZ, but not passing my dils), I sent everyone remaining on a Relay-boosted ship to try Resupply Marauder. We had also hit time, so this was definitely anyone's last chance. So with a Sucking up to the Boss in my hand, I needed to play it ... but for what? Some skills I lack, but several of them I need in multiple, and I no longer had Ishka to boost Zek. So I decided on SC, on the off chance of Nav-H. Lost a few random people to the early dilemmas, and the last was Spatial Rift. No Astro in the deck, I rely on Boss for that. If I had picked that, I would have solved. Instead, MW with a final of 90-(-20). Round 2 Edwin Latrell FW (+100)View opponent's ReportView original Report Latrell was playing DS9 Maquis, and on his first turn he tried a play which he thought would cripple me: after playing a few cards to his DMZ missions, he docked and commandeered my station. My Ferengi cared about as little about it being a Federation station as they had about it being a Bajoran station, and kept right on. Meanwhile, the commandeering did a lot more to cripple him, since he now had a non-[Maq] facility and lost his free play. I took too long to draw a Freighter, and ended up playing my HF on Ferenginar to get Quark's Treasure, which flew to the station and through the wormhole. Since they were then stopped (I often lack Science at that point), Ed got the first attempt in, but he had no MED to get past Hippo. Gint dl'd 62, and I attempted at the Dosi planet. Maihardu jumped on the Fast Ship, and the rest faced several Clown dilemmas. Ed thought he had me with Guillotine, but Zek boosted by Ishka passed it; My Festival was an easy pass; and I barely solved the mission when On His Throne changed the CUNNING requirement to INTEGRITY, but I had just enough. With both rules active, that put the score at 55-(-10). On to another mission, this time without a 62: Reopen Trade Discussion with ETR, and a high CUNNING requirement that probably wouldn't work with a 62. After a YGII which claimed Nog, we saw a group of Empok dilemmas: Paralyzed by Fear stopped most of the team, Pimoo (+LD) had some Issues, and then Ferengi Infestation as a wall. Several turns passed (during which I could have played more people if I had noticed that XQX lets me relocate to a Dosi ship too) before I got 2 SEC for that wall. (Also during that time, I downloaded Brunt to the station, and lost him to AOD; and Ed found a YGII/QI combo that Maquis are bad at.) I brought everyone, the diseased Pimoo jumped on the YGII, Soto and MrSisko passed the wall, and the team solved, with 75th bringing us to 95-(-10). At the Wadi planet (with 62), I faced another FastShip/Clown combo. I gave him a ship, Playing Doctor removed Quark and all the Inglati, Bitter Medicine hit the remaining Aquisition, which didn't stop (a second) Pimoo (with Lower Decks) from passing Behind the Mask. Quark had been my only Dip (with Zek dying to the Issues), but on the next turn I played CapNog and Hanok to solve, final 140-(-20). I made so many mistakes this game I feel bad for Matt. NSD needs to be working or the deck does not have a prayer. First mistake was commandeering DS9, second was making the station Fed... Damned attack restrictions. Oh well, it was a hard lesson, but I won't forget it. Round 3 Paddy Tye FL (-100) This was somehow the first time I've played Paddy. He had a cross-property Romulan deck, with three places for [Rom] free reports, plus Baku and Sona. And he just got moving faster than me. By the time I was in the GQ, he had attempted Investigate Sighting (II, at which he had put the appropriate mission specialists) to find Quantum Incursions, which he could pass next turn with the help of Gareb. My first attempt triggered a Friendly Fire (almost passed, but with so many possible things to prepare for on just 7 people, I attempted with only one SEC). Waiting for that, I tried a space mission, hitting V'Ger first (again, could have passed if I'd sent one of my people with Anthro); for that I fortunately had Needs of the Many in hand, so I didn't lose my only ship. And I didn't get another turn. Paddy solved Romulus (with QI) in one go, and then did the DeadEnd mission (Sona), passing the top bar on Protestations of Innocence just by having so many people in play by now. Round 4 Michael Van Breemen FL (-45) Michael had Illegitimate Leader Klingons paired with Son'a. He was off to a quick start, attempting a planet mission from his oupost on turn 2, finding my MEDICAL combo. He solved it the next turn, but lost his K'ChiQ because she got stopped alone and was no longer present with anyone. By now he had a ship, and immediately went for a space mission, hitting Ankari Spirits ... with all his non-Honor Klingons. He STP-d up to replay who was left. Meanwhile, I got tired of waiting to draw a ship, and used DH for Gaila to get the HF, and on turn 4 I finally flew to the GQ. On my attempt, I sailed through Unsci, lost Gint to Kelvan, then was stopped by Scientific Method, with no SCIENCE in the attempt (and, I think, not 3 in play yet). Michael replayed his ship and some people, and lost K'mpec to Friendly Fire. I reported a third Nava and completed my Dosi mission (with Rules, the score was now 55-35). I was wary of attempting a space mission, since I didn't have a ship to spare: I needed my Quark's Treasure for WOAM to make my two affiliations compatible, and I needed the Dosi Vessel I played to be the destination of the XQX relocations. So I sent a group after Host Tournament, where a Inglatu did Hippo, leaving everyone else to die from TPS. I later sent another group to discover the last dilemma, and as expected it was Medical Crisis, which I wasn't prepared for. Meanwhile, Michael waited out the FF and solved that space mission, then passed the Dead End combo at his homeworld FTW. Closing Thoughts They say that these "dojo" tournaments are a big place for battle decks, and that solvers should beware. Well, I beat the only deck that tried to battle me, and lost to two that out-solved me. The deck did fine, with my only complaints being that it can be slow to get a ship early, and that it's hard to prepare for a variety of dilemmas when you limit an attempt to only 7 people.