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Michael Van Breemen (The Ninja Scot)
Tournament Report - 2E - Deep Space 9 Regional
2013-04-20 - 11:00 AM
MaquisDuct Tape is the Goal
Introduction
A problem that I typically have before big tournaments is that I tend to have too many ideas at once (more than 16 before this regional) that it makes it difficult to decide on just what I want to do. Eventually, I decided to go with Maquis but with my own idea, mainly to go with a large portion of low cost people and Bashir. Bashir and maybe Cal or Amaros would go under, Biogenic Weapon would go on their swamped mission to force them to go under a fresh new mission. I didn't use Reide at all except for skills and I didn't use Defiant in every game (in two games, I never even played it.)
Round 1TNGBrian LeonardFW (+100)View opponent's Report
Brian was playing a TNG low-integrity solver but didn't go Loaded for Bear. Instead, he had Personal Flagship for extra bonus points. Unfortunately for him, he had a lot of high-cost people in his opening few turns (Original Thinker Kirk, Premiere Worf, Battleship Picard, Battleship Riker, etc.) Stalling for Time on Kirk, Biogenic Weapon on Investigate Maquis Activity, Cascade Virus on Mot, Defiant putting cards back on top of his deck, more than enough harassment for my people to get through their missions for the win.
Round 2TNGBrian GondekFW (+70)View opponent's Report
Brian was playing a TNG low-integrity solver but didn't go Loaded for Bear. Instead, he had the event-returning Ent-E. I almost stranded him in space but had forgotten that Beverly Crusher had a command star (Necessary Evil) so he was able to fly the ship home (otherwise I would've played the Stalling for Time I had in my hand although really, I should've played it on Gav which I knew had a Command Star anyway. Oh well.) He managed to get through Inveestigate Destruction but but no other mission. Defiant was doing its job in this deck as well too. I managed to get around a Caretaker's Guest with Tamal's ability after discarding Chakotay for his ability so that I had someone in the discard pile to come into play instead. Eventually I bullied my way through the missions for the win.
Round 3TOSKris SonstebyFW (+65)View opponent's Report
Kris was going with what looked like the same deck that he was running in Minnesota, a TOS deck, which meant stopping him from solving ALC as he had more higher-cost people than I would, all of which could be played for way cheaper than mine as well. Having an opening hand of four NA's, Biogenic Weapon and Cascade Viruses didn't help, especially when only one of the NA's was a Maquis. Since I figured that Kris already had an idea as to what my dilemma pile was going to try to do, I went for minimizing my dilemma usage. His first attempt at ALC got only four under, a low amount for this deck. After that, Biogenic Weapon came into play and, with both Matt Decker and TMP Scotty already in play, it was going to stay around for a while. Meanwhile, I went with just the Cosette (partially because it was the only ship I could get for quite some time.) The other reason was that I was able to solve Elude Federation Forces in one attempt. I managed to hold him off at Find Lifeless World for longer than expected and a combination of Clown Guillotine at Investigate Alien Probe and then Stalling for Time away two more people gave me some cushion as I worked on my last mission. However he had two things going for him still - Helen Noel took out two of my three Ace's and Will Decker brought Scotty back into hand. I'm not sure if Scotty could have gotten into play with playing the TMP Enterprise because he couldn't be downloaded (can't download what's in your hand) but thankfully that didn't come up as I double-teamed my way to victory.
Round 4VoyagerMike BurkeFW (+40)
Mike was playing a Voyager deck that had a dilemma pile that looked a lot like mine. As a result, I went with the same strategy as Kris did against me - six people only attempts until I had a super team to get through the large number of dilemmas under the mission. I get hit by Dreamer once, losing two of my three Defiants along with an Uninvited which hurt but it was doable. Dukat hit the table fairly early for him and proceeded to munch on my discard pile. He attempted Caretaker's Array with six and got what I was hoping for - Overburdened. I just played that and, for extra credit, got an Ace with the consume. Four dead and none which could use Hinderance which was good once I returned Regretful Leader Janeway back to his hand. Next attempt he made I play Clown: Guillotine. He burns a couple of events with Navaar to give people who could net only one kill with Guillotine the skill of Diplomacy. This backfired by removing Hinderance which I never saw again and because I hit Neelix, who was still a six, and then Kes, taking out his Science. Meanwhile I've gotten through Secure Strategic Base and have enough to double team ALC, putting Bashir and Cal Hudon under. Since I have the last Defiant in my hand and can leave enough people behind to reliably staff it next turn, I decided to send everyone else at Elude Federation Forces. He consumes all but one dilemma of his pile (which thankfully was the last ACE which he miscalculated) leaving me just enough people to get through the mission on the first attempt, despite losing about half of the attempting people in the process.
Round 5TOSCasey WickumMW (+5)View opponent's Report
Casey was playing TOS as well, going for low Integrity. This was an odd game for a number of reasons, a number of which involved Biogenic Weapon. I played Biogenic Weapon on his Investigate Maquis Activity. He played Matt Decker at upgraded cost (unfortunately, no Cascade Virus). Not a problem, I have another one in hand. He plays Tacking into the Wind on it. I play a third one (had three within the first twelve cards on the deck) He uses Chekov to return Decker to hand (again, no Cascade) to blow it up by playing him yet again. I get the Defiant out but he's damaged my ship and kidnapped Riker in the same turn (Inequitable Exchange/Gomtuu) Some lucky Hard Time's later and I can't staff the ship anymore. Thankfully I get Cal who downloads my Cosette while they're plinking away at Elude. Meanwhile, he's gotten through IMA thanks to Harriman gaining Leadership from Decker onboard the ship. He's attempted Track Survivors but again, more death and carnage. I play Stalling for Time to get Sisko back to his hand because I have Cascade Viruses now and Uninviteds. I get through Elude Federation Forces and fake-attempt with everyone at ALC mainly because I don't have Exobiology at this point. I attempted with 11, he gives me Shared Hallucinations which I shocked him by stopping eight people before the other dilemma does pretty much nothing. I get my Exobiology started to split up my teams, making it through with the second team. I put Bashir and Cal Hudson under (I wasn't completely sure if I could put Thomas Riker under from the brig since I do own him and couldn't play another of him but since I couldn't lose the tournament, I didn't worry about it.) He managed to get through Track Survivors but had only five or six people left (he solved Track Survivors with six people and barely had the integrity despite Weyoun's presence.) By the time that time was called I had planet space, he had planet planet and never had enough people to attempt the space mission. If I had one more turn I would've had a full win.
Closing Thoughts
I think that it was fitting for my finally getting the Consume dilemma achievement with the affiliation that prompted me to come up with it in the first place - Maquis. Thanks to Al for running a smooth tournament. The venue closing their cafeteria at two however leaved a lot to be desired...