Brian Sykes (Armus) Tournament Report - 1E - Sector 001 Regional 2016-04-30 - 10:00 AM Respect mah Centah of Authoritah! Introduction Originally there wasn't going to be a 1e Regional in DC. This was going to be the 2e warm-up tournament. But I was texting with Phil and I pointed out that since he and Josh were both seriously considering going to Orlando, that he should run a 1e regional since it looked like we'd be able to get it sanctioned. At first the answer was no because Darrell was coming down from Delaware and didn't like 1e, but about two weeks before the event Darrell had a last minute commitment and couldn't make the tournament which allowed Phil to make the change without issue. That was the good news. The bad news was I hadn't played 1e since 2014 and I wasn't a huge fan of either of the decks I had from that run (TNG Romulans and They Will be Coming with Brunt of Borg). Since I'm a fan of achievements, and there were several I didn't have that I couldn't get in 2e, I wanted to make sure to take maximum advantage of this rare opportunity to rack up some 1e achievements. My main affiliations of choice were KCA, Vidiian, and Hirogen. I really didn't want to leave myself open to Kazon Battle, as that's just no fun to play against. I also saw that if I played KCA I could get the 'Mirror Regular' achievement, and if I happened to win, I'd be 75% of the way to the 'Mirror Master' achievement and rare, coveted 'Goateed' title. Plus, I could play with Mr. Brunt and knock out a 1e Combs casting achievement. AND with the new conversion of You Are A Monument to a rule in OTF, I wanted easy access to the Alpha quadrant so I didn't have to solve a bunch of missions or stealable big point missions. Bottom line, the more I considered my options, the more I gravitated toward a KCA build for both competitive and achievement reasons. So with that basic decision made, the next question was what KIND of KCA deck to build? My first thought was to borrow a page from a former World Champion's playbook. In 2014 Jason Drake tore through Worlds Day 1 with a deck that solved two 35 point missions in different quadrants with a self-seeded Cytherians and an Off-Zel Base providing the requisite bonus points to finish off the two mission win. With a Mirror/Alpha setup already part of the equation, this made sense to me. Bajor was an obvious choice for my Alpha Quadrant mission, as it was 35 points, could hold a Vase nicely and was directly accessible from the Mirror Quadrant via Multidimensional Transporter Device - no flying required! As for the Cytherians-hosting space mission, Test Warship fit the bill nicely. I rounded out my missions with Visit Opposite Quadrant for the Crossover: Invitation download, Relocate Settlers for a backup Alpha planet. I couldn't decide at this point what my last mission should be. I also still wasn't sure if it would be better to run with Center of Authority or The Regent's Flagship. Round 1 Bye BY (0) Figures I drive an hour and a half just to get the bye. Oh well, in a field this small I don't think it will matter. Either I win my games or I don't, and any ties will more likely than not be settled head to head. The silver lining is now I only have to win two games! Round 2 Alexander Schmitz FW (+100) Alex was one of the reasons I elected to take Jason's advice and leave both the Alliance Outpost and Rescue Captives in. Earlier in the week he had been asking questions about Cardassians on the game play board so I was not at all shocked to see Terok Nor, Central Command, and other purple cards hit the table. We duplicated Bajor with his hitting the table first so his one dilemma went under followed by my Off-Zel Vase, In the Pale Moonlight, and Dead End. This also allows me to put an extra dilemma under Cardassia, which will turn out to be key. We both took a couple of turns setting up our respective Process Ore and A Better Alternative drawing engines. Alex is playing two free people plus a ship plus a support personnel each turn. I'm able to keep pace with two free people of my own, a free Freighter, an Alliance Interceptor, and a couple of Ops Download personnel. I get Theta into play and download Lower Decks, then I take the Interceptor out to Test Warship for a first attempt. First dilemma is Arsenal: Divided, which I pass with four Lower Decks-enhanced non-uniques plus one Security Chief Garak (Mr. Brunt got stopped). Second dilemma is Chula: the Chandra that winnows my crew down to three personnel. Third Dilemma is V'Ger. Boom. Ouch. Alex tries to seize the initiative and attempt at Cardassia, but a Ferengi Infestation stops his redshirt crew. I spend my next turn rebuilding and cashing in Cytherians thanks to a hidden Bajoran Interceptor at Mirror Bajor, and playing Dabo thanks to Nizaria showing up. On Alex's next turn he brings a beefy 8 man crew and attempts Cardassia. He easily passes Ferengi Infestation, but then loses four personnel to Denevan Neural Parasites, another three to Chula: the Abyss (relocated to my Quark's Bar, not his), and the last one dies to Hanonian Land Eel. This gives me the margin I need to rebuild and clear out Bajor for the two mission win two turns later. FW 100-0. Round 3 Joshua Sheets FW (+70) Josh was the favorite going in and was a legit 2-0 at this point, having beaten both Phil and Ben in previous rounds. Due to going to time against Ben, I only needed to not lose this game to take the title, but that was looking to be easier said than done. As Josh sits down the top card of his deck slips and lands face up: Borg Tactical Cube. Great. My dilemmas are not well-suited for Borg so I'm going to have my hands full. We start seeding missions and I see FGC-47 research and Qo'Nos, along with four other Klingon icon missions. Since I know he's playing Borg, I assume he's doing Harness Particle/Assimilate Homeworld for a two mission win. I put my one good Borg dilemma, In the Pale Moonlight, as part of an oversized Qo'Nos combo. I also overseed FGC-47 as it's right next door to Qo'Nos. That leaves me two dilemmas each for his other four missions, which I cobble together some impromptu combos for. Unfortunately for me I missed the fact that he seeded Survey Mission, which is ALSO a Nebula. Josh makes me pay for that mistake by getting through my paltry two card combo fairly easily, though I do catch him for one turn without Geology and get two kills from Rules of Obedience. Josh finishes Scouting with Establish Gateway and plays A Change of Plans to switch over to Harness Particle 010 which he then successfully probes for a 30 point lead. Meanwhile on my side of the board, I've been building up and trying to get through Test Warship. I lose four points to The Higher... The Fewer, and then get stuck behind a Combo Scow. Unfortunately it takes me two turns to get enough Engineers out to move the darn thing. I take Smiley and Theta along with a random Cardassian on an alliance Freighter to tow the scow to the Wormhole where it won't bother anybody. I then take my Interceptor crew back to trip the Cytherians, but Josh's Mission Debriefing stops me before I can take advantage of the remaining range to score the Cytherians, which I do on my next turn. The turn after he achieves perfection, Josh heads over to Qo'Nos, plays a second A Change of Plans, Downloads Assimilate Homeworld and starts scouting. Dead End. Well, it was good for one stop at least. On my turn, I load up my engineers and a couple of others on the Freighter and fly through the Wormhole to Bajor and start attempting. First dilemma is Hanonian Land Eel, which kills one and stops me. On Josh's turn he continues scouting, revealing a Your Galaxy is Impure, killing one, then In the Pale Moonlight, which stops him. As he reads the card i point out that the Borg usually have to Adapt past this dilemma, which i figure he'll do on his next turn, but Josh says 'I think that's a lock'. It turns out he wasn't running Adapt: Negate Obstruction in his deck (!) And worse, he had already used all of his copies of A Change of Plans so he couldn't even switch to a different objective. This gives me some breathing room, and on my next turn i play a Multidimensional Transporter Device to my Alliance Outpost as my card play, and some free people to the station. I have to go fetch the MTD with my Alliance Interceptor and go back to Bajor, which uses up its range. I beam some people through to the Freighter via Multidimensional Transport Device and re-attempt. "God". Boom goes the Freighter. The good news is that the mission is clear. The bad news is that I need another ship to attempt that I don't have this turn. I play some more Dabo and send it back to Josh, who starts using Two of Nine to cycle cards from his Discard pile to his deck, but the A Change of Plans is still three turns away. Since he can't scout anything, he takes his Gowron-piloted Tactical Cube and flies over to the Bajoran Wormhole and parks, looking very intimidating, and ends his turn. Not sure what to make of the cube, I play another free Freighter and download an extra Science so I can get both ships through the Wormhole unstopped. I put a bluff crew on the Freighter and send it through, no response. I then put my solving crew on the interceptor and send them through. No response. Finally I move the interceptor to Bajor and land it, then move the Freighter and beam down. I'm able to solve the mission, acquire the Off-Zel Vase, and finish off the 100-30 full win. Closing Thoughts I'm very glad that I was able to capitalize on a rare opportunity to play some 1e and get a tournament win. I'm also very grateful for the chance to collaborate with some of the best minds in the game today. Jason Drake, Matt Ting, and Thomas Vineberg all deserve a share of credit for this win because all of them had a hand in making my deck - and the way I played it - better than it was under my own design. That such top players are willing to provide advice and guidance really says a lot for the 1e community. I also have to give mad props to Phil Schrader for putting this event together. Running 1e events isn't for everyone, but Phil took it in stride and ran a great event.