Oleg Ryzhikov (Elfwine) |
Tournament Report - 2E - Russian National |
2012-09-09 - 09:00 AM |
The New Ferengi (TNF) |
Introduction |
We all came down to Kazan, on the banks of river Volga. To play our second big tournament, Russian Nationals event!
Sorry, it’s lame, but could not restrain myself :)
11 players in Russian tournament, and not in Moscow? Certainly would not believed this a year ago. But it happened, and it was grand!
I had a lot of thoughts about choice of deck, but at the end I decided to give the last chance to my counter-gaining Ferengis. Actually, I played so much of them lately, that I grew a little bored. So much testing and tweaking after regionals… On the other hand I was very confident with deck's performance, so it was a perfect opportunity to make up for failed regional. |
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Round 1 | | Nickolay Korotya | FW (+35) |
First round with Nick was really a tough way to start a tournament! We had a night game on a train just before Kazan, and my “tested and tried and blah-blah” ferengis lost to his romulans. I did a few rather stupid mistakes that night, so I was very determined to concentrate and win this one.
And first part of the game was just perfect for me – I had rather good draw, received all my bonus counters, when I needed them, did space mission in first attempt, and decided to regroup on HQ. Nick had a trouble with his ship draw, so I had a little time to prepare for planet missions. But next couple of turns weren’t so good for me – Nick had me stuck on easy planet mission for two turns (due to lack of observance on my part, my second “4-on-4 zero dilemmas”-attempt was met by Endangered, and failed), while his romulans already got their ship and completed space on it. This was the time to get myself together, or game will be lost! And I’m very proud, that I did just that. Tough game, as always with Nick, but this time luck was at my side. |
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Round 2 | | Anastasia Kalashnikova | FW (+70) |
After I had such a great start, it was imperative not to lose momentum, and win in second round. Although I had absolutely no experience with Alexey’s deck, I was rather confident to win this one. I knew from Andrey (who had a few games against it) about core mechanics of this deck, and played a familiar one half a year ago, so I thought that I knew all the tricks. I was wrong. He solved his first mission before I’ve got a chance to attempt mine (while having a good draw and all those counters), and had no plans to slow down anytime soon. My reaction was to try stack as many rules under Ferenginar, as I could, and take all calculated risks that was available. And it worked, the game was won in next two turns! Another challenging game with no time to relax. What will be next?! |
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Round 3 | | Juri Ross | FL (-40)View opponent's ReportView original Report |
And next there were Maquis. Last time I played with Ross (It was more than a year ago, on Trek convention) my Dominion deck had a crushing 0-100 defeat from these guys. By this time I had ferengis, and they came prepared for all this personnel and mission control. Or so I thought. Start was perfect for me – I had an excellent draw, no trouble with any personnel prevention, or placing cards on topdeck (I had my spare counters to deal with that), and even managed to counter his first For The Cause with lucky Grav-Plating draw, which won me at least one spare turn. But my first attempt was a complete disaster. I heard something during the tournament about new engagement mechanic in Ross’s deck, but had no time think about it. So I was truly shocked, when after calculated Gomtuu stop, Ross got into play not one, not two, but THREE engagement DAMAGE events. He already got two ships by this time, and my puny transport-closet was literally obliterated while bearing a selection of nine of the best ferengi personnel from my deck. My last and only hope was counter-engine Par Lenor, whom I almost accidentally left on HQ. I’ve tried to build up as fast, as possible, while being constantly attacked by nasty maquis Belanna, who made me discard all excessive cards at random. This way I lost all my “suck-to-the-boss” interrupts and other boosts. But meanwhile I had relative success in stopping Ross attempts, so nothing was lost and I had all the chances to win. In a couple of turns I’ve got new shiny Kurdon with decent crew, spearheaded overdue space mission with just 4 pers, then solved first planet (not without help of our dear Reyga), but then got stuck on final planet. In next tree turns the game was done. On his turn Ross got 20 additional points from engagements, so he needed only two missions for victory, and I was able to stop his attempt only with consume-heavy No Kill I. Then I failed my next attempt miserably - my team was only 4 cunning short to resolve Greater Needs, but I didn’d have any interrupts, so no mission and bye-bye second ship. Next turn Ross wins. What a great game! I was so close, and lost to engagement deck! Won’t forget this one anytime soon. |
Ferengi were really true to their spirit. Honestly I didn't expect so many counters, 18 each turn! I had to use M'Vil and Defiant more often to slow them down. Then I destroyed his staffed ship and that really slowed him down, but Oleg got a really good deck capable of surviving through some beating. With that many counters he had many cards in his hand to discard so Belanna Torres helped me a lot. When he got replacement team ready to solve the mission, I blowed up his second ship, scoring necessary points in progress. |
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Round 4 | | Dyonis Rakhl | FW (+30)View opponent's ReportView original Report |
Dyonis and his uber-fast klingons. I haven’t seen this deck, but I was familiar with all klingon tricks and thingies. Then I heard, that Andrey and his very strong SF deck lost to Dyonis in a previous round. So I’ve prepared myself to be very alert and careful this time. And it paid off. The game was very even (later we both called in “no dilemmas game”), we got right through each others dilemmas very fast. And again last 2-3 turns were very tense. I was lucky to prevent Dyonis’s range-boost interrupt, so he couldn’t go to last mission this turn, and Reyga helped me very much to complete my last mission next turn. At the end ferengi were more dodgy, than klingon were fast, and victory was mine. |
Oleg's Ferengi is the ultimate trickery. While I was barely capable of following Andrey's machinations, I didn't even bother to do so with Oleg's 14-20 build counters per turn. He is a judge after all, he should know better. Surprisingly, the Klingons yet again worked to a complete potential, and were never stopped beyond the expected situations. The problem is that the Ferengi were equally unstoppable, but 1.5 times faster. Oh well... the past must yield to the future at some point... |
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Round 5 | | Nastya Ryzhikova | FW (+30) |
Last round was with my wife Nastya. I needed to win this one to get second place, but I knew it wasn’t a cakewalk ahead of me. We played Ferengi vs. Androids a lot in last month, and my win/lose ration was not good: I won every third game, but no more. On the other hand, it was exactly 3rd game since my last victory. Again, it was rather even competition, we both had good draws, and no problems with first missions. But I had better luck with dilemmas, and the first turn was mine, so I won with at least one turn to spare. Good game, and I’m very fond of Android deck, but statistics ware at my side this time :) |
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Closing Thoughts |
As for event - it was superb! Great city, great venue (though with a bit creepy corridors), a lot of great new players!! Don’t know where we will we go for next year’s National, but Kazan will always be an option.
Big thanks to Andrey Larin and his wife for practically running the tournament - all was so flawless, that I think I’ll pass you the judge’s hat (a gift from australian players, BTW! big thanks to them too) for a couple of next ones.
Big thanks to Andrey Gusev for his work with Kazan venue, and Kazan players - you’ve been a great help!
Special thanks to my dear wife Nastya for being with my all the time!
And thanks to all players for attending, I hope to see all of you next time! |
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