Al Schaefer (ltkettch17) Tournament Report - 2E 2019-06-30 - 12:00 PM Empty Threats with changes Introduction Really stretching to find something new that I hadn't played before and I came across John Corbett's Empty Threats. This had a TON of cards I hadn't played with before and I had no idea how it was supposed to work. I though I'd put it together and give it a try. Round 1 Maggie Geppert ML (-75)View opponent's ReportView original Report Maggie had Earth as her HQ, so she wouldn't have too many problems getting around any "Sector 001" exclusive text. I still consumed a lot less than I thought I would and got two Star Crossed into play. It didn't really matter because it took a little too long for me to find a ship and I got shut down easily two turns in a row with Distress Signal and Outclassed. By the time the dilemma pile was close to doing its thing, Maggie was way too far ahead to make a difference. Coincidentally my deck was optimized for play against Terra Prime, because I was expecting to see it at Continentals. This meant that even though Al got 2x Unsavory Customers and 2x Starcrossed in my core, I could work around them. He wasn't using the capturing mechanics, so I didn't feel too bad about leaving Guinan on Earth or Worf helping to staff the Excelsior. I got a very slow start this round because I kept drawing into mid-game cards like BOT and Grav-plating Trap and not actual people. I didn't get out Disadvantage Into Advantage until it didn't really do me any good. Round 2 Eric Bieche FW (+70) Eric got off to a fast start with his high cost android deck. First turn Energize and then three turns in a row of These Are The Voyages and he had quickly cycled through a lot of his deck. My opening hand included Humanities Worst Enemy and Susan, so I was hoping to use the two as an extra card draw each turn - but Eric quickly destroyed HWE. I was barely getting enough personnel in play to attempt a mission, and for all of Eric's card maneuvering, he hadn't found a ship yet. I got off to attempting Jupiter first and surprised Eric with the lack of Leadership/Officer and almost got Jupiter completed on the first attempt. He finally found a ship and was off and running and was more than happy to stop Shran to Star Crossed, but was needing his Navigation when it came time to check for mission skills. I'd gotten another HWE in play and made quick work at Earth before moving onto Kuiper Belt. Eric got through his first mission but was now operating at a snails pace due to Unsavory Customers. He wasn't making much ground in his second mission due to almost no dilemmas going under. I finished Kuiper Belt easily and got the win. Round 3 Brian Leonard FL (-70) Another undesirable matchup; no HQ makes my 'Return to Pile' dilemmas like Final Adventure and Royal Hunt useless. I tried to make a game of it, but two Star Crossed got consumed at Caretakers Array, it was quite a while before I could get them back with Bold Plan, but I was really running out of options as Brian was completing missions. He over-spent on points and had to go for 4 missions but my options were very limited in space - I think my last dilemma draw was Final Adventure x2, Cave In, A Royal Hunt, and No Kill I. That would have been a great draw against Eric, but not in space against Brian. Closing Thoughts This is a pretty cool deck with a lot of different mechanics. You get the sensation that you're getting blown out early in the game, but towards the end of the game, you're not stacking any dilemmas and that last mission for your opponent can become very difficult to complete. There's a ton of Event and Interrupt hate in the deck, but I just didn't have them in my hand when the Events/Interrupts were being played. The Earth and No HQ matchup were undesirable, but not auto losses. More practice and a few tweaks to fit my style are definitely in the future for this deck, I plan to play it some more. Thanks to John for posting something new and fun. Thanks again to Maggie for running the event.