Greg Dillon (Latok) Tournament Report - 2E - Trek Masters 2018-08-20 - 12:00 AM Relatively Easy (Online Masters Edition) Introduction I only remembered to write stuff down after playing Sascha so the later games are more accurate/detailed. Round 1 Charlie Plaine FW (+5) My deck started out very slowly in this game, which was scary because Charlie's Bajorans did not. I was able to stall him at his space mission for quite some time though, I think he had 8 or so personnel out by the time. Meanwhile my space was going poorly, with Pattern Loss on it and my Security Drills not showing up I got two Pest Controls in my core. Eventually I had 5 dilemmas under but far too many people on my ship so I left to do my planets. I managed to complete Metron Arena around the same time as Charlie got his first planet. At Charlie's second planet he set up for a double attempt and my first dilemma draw was not going to be able to stop him with less than 3 under, not good enough. But I did have one play, let him solve the mission, Charlie was on 65 points and the mission was only worth 30, so he had to get Solbor's bonus points. I threw Dereliction of Duty and hoped he could actually solve, he could. Then he had to go to Metron Arena, Officer or 2 Science, I know he's not swimming in either, so I managed to stop two attempts I think with some random selections (maybe Intimidation) getting Officer. Then I had to finish off Avert Danger that had a couple under it AND go back to my space mission, so double attempt Avert Danger, 6 then 4 with 2 still on the ship and I get it. That leaves me with needing 6 to staff and 5 dilemmas under but with Kirk and 5 that can solve I fly over and finish it off no problem. Round 2 Ted Reebel FW (+100) Round 3 Jon Carter FW (+100) In this game my deck put the speed in speed solver. Turn 2 I attempted Evaluate Soliton Wave with 6, including Data and Kirk and being able to solve with 5, getting 2 under. Turn 3 I completed Evaluate Soliton Wave and attempted Metron Arena getting 1 under. Turn 4 I got 2 more under Metron Arena and then on turn 5 I completed Metron Arena and double attempted Avert Danger completing with 4 personnel in the second attempt. Round 4 sascha kiefer FW (+70) Sascha posted about The Enemy of my Enemy half a week before our match so I knew what I was sitting down against not that my deck can do anything about it. So I need to go fast, really fast, my deck did it last round lets go again, so not quite, I didn't get out on two turn but I did turn 3, with Kirk and no Data. I did solve the mission though, Sascha said he got really bad draws so I was able to Kirk through and solve with the 6 remaining. Luckily Sascha's bad draws weren't limited to the dilemma pile, he only had 4 personnel and a ship in play, after he attempted solo with Makbar to remove Data from the game and I killed her with Occupational Hazards (thanks TCS), he could've overcome it with The Enemy of my Enemy but I would've taken that. Next I was stalled at Metron Arena for a couple turns, enough for Sascha to get out and start attempting himself. With a lead my dilemma strategy was to try and waste his interrupts not to stop him from solving, I got a Central Command and The Enemy of my Enemy, not to shabby but not excellent. I solved Metron next turn and started at Avert Danger, this put Sascha under pressure, he had to play like it was his last turn (which it ended up being) so he attempted at Cardassia IV with 7. With two CC and two TEomE I know it' unlikely I can actually stop him from solving but can I stop him from solving this AND Metron Arena? With these draws yes I can, so he's attempted with 7 all 6 or less cunning, I can give him Intimidation, that's one CC for sure, but I still need to draw some other interrupts if I can stop just 2 personnel he'd have to use both TEomE to meet the cunning requirement, 30 + 10 from One won't cut it OR use another CC to prevent 1 person from being stopped, Pitching In works a treat (if i had Polywater that would've followed for sure). So Sascha has to use CC to prevent one of the Pitching In stops or both remaining TEomE to solve, he decided that doing either and going to Metron Arena with only one interrupt left wouldn't be worth it and passed the turn hoping to buy himself one more chance. With Kirk I was able to finish the game off. Round 5 Oliver Thust FW (+25) Oliver got a good start with The Viceroy in the opening hand and being able to start pulling out his events from my first turn when I had to play Christening to get the Relativity. Though he was getting 5 points every turn, his personnel seemed to be coming out quite slowly. I got quite a decent start myself being able to attempt on the 3rd turn with 7 including Kirk (OT). I wasn’t able to solve Stakoron Strait after three turns of attempts though and with 5 dilemmas under and 9 personnel in pay I decided I’d come back later for it. Metron Arena dropped far easier however in just two turns but my attempt at Avert Danger that turn got only one dilemma under with 1 personnel returned to my hand and 3 more killed by Whispers in the Dark. Oliver had finally started his own attempts at Stakoron Strait though and while I got a couple of good dilemma pulls including landing a Gomtuu Shockwave he solved it on the third attempt using Power Shift once. I then pointed out that he didn’t have enough range (thanks to Gomtuu) to fly home to Romulus, hoping that he would still want to get home by flying to my mission using Romulus’ text and then home next turn. Instead Oliver flew to Stakoron II and solved it in just that one attempt, my 6 dilemmas were Insurrection, Necessary Execution, In Development, Dragon’s Teeth, Rogue Borg Ambush and Occupational Hazards, so with 2 Intelligence personnel, 3 Treachery personnel and Donatra in the attempt I was screwed but I was at least able to get rid of Donatra and make him use 10 points for Power Shift. So I had 1 dilemma under Avert Danger, 5 under Stakoron Strait and only 6 people in play but plenty in the discard pile to choose from. Meanwhile Oliver was on 80 points with 6 people stranded in the Gamma Quadrant and 3 on Romulus, so on his turn he’ll have 20 spare points and possibly be able to play a ship to get reinforcements in to the GQ. I thought at this point I’d have maximum two turns but to also try and win it this turn, so I got Data and Revised Doctor back from the dsicard pile, destroyed a Delirium with Tacking Into the Wind and used another Tacking to shuffle 10 personnel back in to my deck leaving Kirk (OT) in the discard pile for my possible next turn. I was not able to solve Avert Danger and got 2 more dilemmas under with no personnel leaving play. Oliver wasn’t able to staff a ship to reinforce the GW (because Sabrun is a scrub) so I just had to stop a 6 person attempt with The Die is Cast and Power Shift behind them but thankfully no Donatra, easy…. My 6 dilemmas this time were Pitching In (both stops would be prevented with The Die is Cast and isn’t cheap), An Issue of Trust (would only stop 2, one of which would be prevented with The Die is Cast), Dereliction of Duty (now you come out), Gomtuu Shock Wave, Honorable Pursuit (lol), Intimidation (alright pretty useful, only The Viceroy isn’t Romulan). So I have to count on Intimidation to stop the attempt, I also put Honorable Pursuit after it to discourage him from using The Die is Cast to try for a 4 person solve or something, as it turned out The Viceroy was the last person selected and I put a second under for no reason. So I play what I see as my last turn because I’m sure he’ll get some backup in to the GQ next turn and no way will I be able to stop him twice. I play a few personnel but most importantly get my Kirk back out as well as Security Drills and I set up a 6 person attempt that can solve with 4 at Avert Danger. He gives me 2 dilemmas and I flip the first one, An Issue of Trust, only Kirk and Revised Doctor are affected and fortunately he selects Kirk to continue but now he’s spent 3/3. Except I can’t solve with the 4 not including Kirk, I needed Revised Doctor, so I don’t really have a choice and face the next dilemma hoping it’s not a Polywater Intoxication, it’s not, it’s overcosted and I solve. So now I just need to make a crew of 6 to staff my ship and go finish Stakoron Strait, I can solve with 5 and have a Kirk, I think easy peasy he draws 2 with Delirium and I’ll get this easy but I forgot he played Endangered, so now he has 5 to draw and spend. So again 2 dilemmas to face and I decide not to Kirk the first one, Adopted Authority, I’ve had worse crews against this, Janeway and Bashir will make it only stop 1 and Oliver pulls out Janeway, excellent. Once again though I can’t use Kirk because then I can’t solve, so I’m hoping the next dilemma is overcosted again AND it is Gomtuu Shockwave, overcosted. I solve with exactly enough cunning at 37, so if Oliver had picked any other personnel with AA or had I used Kirk I would’ve failed the attempt. What a close match, I used pretty much all of my deck in this game, 2 Tackings to take out Deliriums and 1 to shuffle personnel back in to the deck (including the wonderful Janeway that helped me win), B’Elanna removed a Gomtuu so I didn’t have to waste a turn flying to Oliver’s mission to get back to the Alpha Quadrant, I used one Kirk(OT) and the threat of the second probably won me the game.