What I liked about this deck was how ludicrously small it was. Technically, it has a 30-card draw deck (just to be legal), but it downloads 6 cards before the game starts, leaving just 24. It downloads two more on turn 1, and Vedek Kira initiates a download chain that pulls out three more. So, by turn 3, this deck usually only has 12 or 13 cards left in it. Since the last deck I played was a monster large enough to eat a small dog, this was a very sharp, and very welcome, change of pace.

Only just now did I check the tournament reports, and it seems that Ian and I DID meet in January at the Fargo event, but didn't play each other. So this was our first game together. Also something I just realized: I very rarely understand the names other people give their decks, because 9 times out of 10 they involve some obscure joke about something that happened on Worlds Day One in 1999, and the other 1 time out of 10 they involve inscrutable lyrics from songs by obscure artists like Pharrel [sic?] or NSync. Because most people who play this game are cooler than I am.

But as I looked over the Fargo tourney records just now, I skimmed the deck titles again, and I realized: Kris's winning deck is named for a quote from The Hunger Games! I've read that book! I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE. Clearly, he is a man of elevated taste and we should be friends.

Anyways... I was reporting on a game, right? With Ian? Today? Okay.

Ian's running good solid vanilla TNG Feds. Save Stranded Crew was in there, because everyone forgot it left Block, but I also forgot, so it didn't come up in our game. (He wasn't using All-Consuming Evil, so nobody cared.) I discovered that my (unplaytested) deck has some trouble getting the Defiant staffed quickly so it can dump Sisko (or Bareil, or whomever) in the Celestial Temple. In retrospect, I should have seeded DS9 at The Bajoran Wormhole in all my games. Still, I got a good rhythm going with Bajoran Shrine / Guest Quarters, and the story of the game is -- basically -- we both built up our forces for a long time.

Once we both felt adequately badass, we went attempting. And we absolutely crushed each other's dilemma combos. Ian walked through Friendly Fire by the nape of his neck. I blew through a number of unsynergized combos in the Gamma Quadrant, basically at a rate of one mission per turn. Soon, it came down to the final mission for both of us. Ian had the Enterprise at Locate Terrorist Leader, and I had the Defiant at Reopen Trade Discussions. He attempted with a B-team, leaving two solver personnel aboard the Enterprise (including an Anthropology), and fell prey to Cultural Differences, ending his attempt and costing him the game.

I wish there were more to it than that, but there really isn't. At one point, I damaged an Oberth with The Three Vipers (dilemma combos are on decklist), but Wesley Crusher took down Subspace Shockwave, and damaging one ship is just not that impressive. I should have switched Three Vipers with Gomtuu and had it follow Subspace Shock Wave. Then at least somebody get's Gomtuu'd!

100-70; Ian would have won on the next turn. Major lessons learned: (1) don't wait so long to attempt missions -- it's Block, what are you afraid of? (2) this deck maybe doesn't get going as fast as I thought it did, and (3) playing El-Aurian Phaser with We Need You Here is an exercise in frustration, and sending someone to pick it up while delaying solving for a whole 'nother turn is asking to lose.

Things finally started looking up, and my deck was thin enough that I was able to give up on Sites, freeing up some personnel. I headed to the Gamma Quadrant and started solving. But catching up seemed like a lost cause.

Then Hobie headed home to Host Metaphasic. He had the Kurdon and a D'Kora Transport out. He attempted, with everyone (more or less) on the Transport. Spaceborne Entity + Virus was a combo intended to cause serious range penalties (5 from rotation damage + -2 from Virus). But, here, it caused instead a one-shot ship destruction, with the loss of his entire crew.

It's fair to say that the game was sealed at this point. I was still able to clear approximately one mission per turn, and he could not catch up.

I do have to make a note for the record. I've written before that, at every single tournament I've ever played, I've inadvertently violated the rules at least once. Here was mine this time: I believed that personnel could jump into The Celestial Temple at either end of the Bajoran Wormhole. I left the Orinoco in the Alpha Quadrant and the Defiant in the GQ, using Celestial Temple to funnel my personnel straight through from one to the other (skipping Wormhole Navigation Schematic). This undoubtedly allowed me to save two or three turns as I spared myself the stops and discards from interquadrant travel. At one point, I even took the entire crew of the Defiant (except Michael Eddington) through the Temple back to the Orinoco, where they went on to attempt Alter Records! It was definitely worth 5 points from Parallax Arguers. However, as Justin pointed out to me next game, Celestial Temple actually only allows you to relocate to and fro on the Alpha Quadrant end, so it can't be used as a transportation method. (I'm sure I've heard of other people doing what I did, which is why I thought it was legal, so, if you're doing this, stop!)

Anyway, I don't believe this made a difference in the outcome, because my opponent was pretty crippled, his draw engines weren't prepared for a ship destruction, and he was unable to attempt missions during the remainder of the game. But it's important to note when you make a substantial rules error, or how's anyone ever gonna learn the rules of 1E?

Can't wait to play Hobie again. If not for the bad luck of Spaceborne + Virus, I would have been shut out. He knows what he's doing.

For the second time in a row, Justin and I faced off for the championship. The last time this happened was the February OTF tournament... which I just checked and Kris ALSO used a Peeta quote for this deck title in that one! I HAVE CRACKED THE CODE!

Justin's got Klingons. I was able to keep pace a little better this time, but TNG is still able to pour out personnel like water, so I still decided to start attempting before I felt properly ready. This, in turn, prompted Justin to start his own attempt at Host Metaphasic Shield Test on his brand new Pagh. Same mission, same combo as before, same outcome: Spaceborne + Virus blew the Pagh away with all hands. This combo may be suddenly very powerful in Block, because Battle Bridge Door and many other shield enhancements are no longer applicable, leaving mainly Ablative Armor to protect ships (and nobody wants to seed an Alternate Universe Door to get it out).

Justin was not as paralyzed as Robert had been, so I had to keep moving at a quick pace. Justin also had quite the dilemma combos. I was dead-ended at my planet mission that requires Computer Skill x2 (I forget the name), then tried to solve Reopen Trade Discussions only to lose my sole Stellar Cartography (Jadzia). In fact, there were quite a few personnel in my discard pile by this point, and I can't remember why. Still, I cleared the dilemmas there, and also cleared out Establish Interquadrant Communications, 'cause I had the RANGE. After some bumbling and fumbling, I was able to get the Orinoco out there carrying General Krim, and -- making due precautions in case God blew up the Defiant by leaving the Orinoco hanging back -- we got back to the planet and started solving. Got stopped, but oh well.

Justin had been slowed again when his reconstituted team sent B'Somgh alone to attempt Host Metaphasic. He fell prey to Devastating Communique. Then his main team attempted and fell prey to Gomtuu Shock Wave, knocking BOTH ships over to the next mission. But he came back and completed the cleared mission next turn with help from Jean-Luc Picard, used mission specialists and SciDip to score extra, and slotted in a cool 53 points.

Then I solved for the win. Justin had been running an all-dual dilemma theme, which I'm sure made the dilemmas a tad easier than they will be at, say, regionals next month, so we'll have to see whether a rematch turns out differently.

A good time was had by all. Thanks, as always, to Justin, for running a smooth and well-supported event.