Kris Sonsteby (LORE) Tournament Report - 1E 2015-07-18 - 02:30 PM Man... You Smell Like Phys Ed! Introduction The Great American Bash rolled on as First Edition took center stage, with The Full Nelson tagging in JTG for another classic Fatal-4-Way at FFG. Intrigued by Handshake's potential as a draw engine, I wrapped it around a 2-mission win speed solver and put it through the grinder that is a Land of 10,000 Champions gig. Round 1 Robert Petersen FW (+95)View opponent's ReportView original Report The Prodigy was engineering Dominion, but was starved for free plays throughout as Homefront clogged up The Great Link. While he eventually destroyed a crew under the control of Cytherians, his efforts proved moot as K'Ehleyr knocked out Intercept Sleeper Ship before he could really get going. FW 100-5. The day started off with a trial by fire in the seed phase. Being on the receiving end of one of my favorite cards, Homefront. This effectively slowed the first have of the game to a crawl for me. Finding it difficult to get anything beyond founders for my card plays. In addition, my draw engine relied on Handshakes which I could not utilize to good effect with only dwawing 1 card per turn and Kris always having just a couple cards in hand himself. The worst moment though was when I was about to steal Intercept Sleeper Ship only to realize that I had discarded my Non-aligned peeps instead of playing one to my ship. Still a fun game and a pleasure! Round 2 Barry Windschitl FW (+100)View opponent's ReportView original Report The Genius was looking to Non-Aligned, but had no answer for Spatial Rift and Quantum Incursions, which in tandem slowed him down for several turns. Losing points to Lack of Preparation was not ideal, but The Arbiter of Succession eventually powered me through a Dead End at Wormhole Negotiations for the win. FW 100-0. Kris and Klingons? At least he didn't blow up all my stuff. Round 3 Jason Tang FW (+100)View opponent's ReportView original Report JTG was kicking it with Bajoran, and went all in on stealing Wormhole Negotiations despite its vast distance from his homeworld. Plowing through Distress Mission after just a few turns, Konmel & Co. eventually cleared Seize Freighter before he could swipe what would have been a free 45 pointer. FW 100-0. First time playing Kris in Constructed, and he brought Legitimate Klingons. He went first, and our spaceline was Barzan, Cardassia, Reported Activity, Bajor, the rest of Kris's stuff. Kris put Homefront on Bajor, which really threw a wrench into my plans. Now there was too much competition for my card play: Renewal Scroll, SECURITY to counteract Homefront, and ships. Kris worked through Distress Mission, where I hit with Outpost Raid yet again, but Riker's ETU saved Gowron. Lore easily passed my Clown combo. Meanwhile I'm just staying safe at Bajor, trying to build up my SECURITY. I finally came up with a plan to steal Wormhole Negotiations with Kira, Kira Taban, Odo, and Dr. Telek R'Mor (who could pass my Nav Hazards/Emergency Conversion combo there), but I was en route when my Friendly Fire expired and Kris solved Seize Freighter. Arbiter of Succession sealed my fate. My head was just not in this game. I forgot about BRC draws for several turns. One turn I should have card-played a ship, DH Odo, then retrieve Deputy Quark from DS9 to get my 4 SECURITY to counter Homefront. Instead I downloaded Odo with Homefront itself, costing my card play, download, and card draws all at once, and leaving me short of 4 SEC on my following turn. Closing Thoughts Having downloadable options via Officer Exchange Program made Handshake a much better draw engine than I had initially anticipated. By keeping my hand size small, I was able to force opponents into tough decisions while still being free to use my card play wherever it was needed.