Suden Käpälä (SudenKapala) |
Tournament Report - 1E - Online Event |
2021-04-02 - 12:00 AM |
Well-Equiped Breen Trio Applying Vorta Peacekeeping Tactics To Shore Leave Shuns Q (4v20) |
Introduction |
A block draft (Coyote's original Emissary event, 11730, later turned sealed for 11740) was new to me -- as many things still are; and that drew me into that event. Against better judgment, I might add -- for the umpteenth time the past months. I take on too many projects and event -- because they're too much fun and/or different from what I saw before.
In any case, Coyote's events produced some research into a DOM deck based on the Emissary block starter deck; which in the end, I didn't use for the Emissary tournament.
Meanwhile... in the corona quarantine... still trying out as much new stuff as possible, so I had to be in a Release Event as well. Especially for Dogs Of War, since that is the set that I actually first worked on, myself. Having just volunteered for the Creative team, after having applied for the position via Paddy, Lieutenant Nog was the card I first saw pre-release, and suggested some lore modifications for. (Which were actually used!) So Lt. Nog will always hold special significance for me.
However, I knew early on that I wasn't going to go with playing FED for this event (11744). I had originally wanted to earn the Dominion Player achv with the Emissary gig, but my card pool for that proved more feasible for CAR. (see above -- this AAR is a bit messy. Bear with me. Or don't.) So, for this DoW/11744, I did choose to go with DOM -- transfering my 'preliminary research' (for 11740, "53d") into a DOM Emissary deck, to this one (11744, as "56d").
And it still wasn't pretty. I restarted construction on my deck four (4) times! Well, no, perhaps only 3x, TBH? (The last iteration was actually still a rework of a previous one, maybe?) I variously tried to base myself in the above-mentioned Emissary starter deck, and in the DoW cards (both AQ DOM only, and AQ DOM/CAR). The latter didn't get me any of the achvs, because I was using Central Command. I also tried real hard at a Son'a Ket White alliance thing, but that failed me, too.
Since I wanted to be sure of some nice medals, and given the higher level of participation in this particular environment (thus lessening my chances on actually winning games), I again chose to return to the beginner-friendly Emissary deck, because that at least would get me Weycomb's and DOM Player Achvs.
And then I got a golden tip about Reward From The Founders, and made it a Vorta And Breen Friendship deck. Locally, I had already played a more Jem'Hadar-heavy Dominion steamroller; so playing Vorta now, made sense. And I love the Breen -- I picture them as werewolves-in-armour -- so I put in everything Breenish I could find. Yes, even the surface cannon. Didn't get to use it, though. (Didn't try, needed the equipment downloads for other stuff.)
Tough deck to build (and play), tough environment. But after a particularly frustrating first game, it all picked up a bit.
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Round 1 | | Missed Game | MG (0) |
I was a late entry for this event, not knowing whether I could have a deck ready in time. Hence, the first round was a missed game for me.
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Round 2 | | Paddy Tye | FL (-100) |
g248 (21.04.16): Paddy.
As stated in the event topic, the first game wasn't a success. (Padd: "Always a pleasure Suden!" Me: "Yeah? Well, great! :-) I'm still sorry for not being able to attempt more. Let's just say I learnt a lot from the game (and about the new cards), and my next games will get better! ;-) Thanks for having a good sense of humour.")
So, it was quite the chore, but it did sort-of help me get my deck strategy in order. My next opponents may thank Padd for taking the Brunt -- ehr, the Weyoun (Eight) -- of this deck's learning curve.
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Round 3 | | Joseph Wisniewski | ML (-30) |
g254 (21.04.24): Gerald. We got our game in without any scheduling SNAFU nor technical FUBAR, this time! That might be a first for Gerald and I. LOL!
From mission icons, Joseph seemed to play either CAR or BAJ (but, given the environment, probably CAR); so, many (or at least enough) women? Too bad, for Let Me Help! That was my first thought. Also some FED-BAJ missions, though; I'd later find out he would attempt them with Espionage (Plans of the Order).
Gerald said, when reporting our results, "Interesting game with some interesting rules questions maybe to discuss with the group later." The rules questions were about who can see what card when -- especially during dilemma encounters. I wrote a post about this in Sloan's recent thread about the same issue.
About the game itself, I reacted to Joseph, "Indeed! A fun one, too. Not sure why, exactly; it just had a nice flow and some fun interaction."
We had a small personnel battle that was forced on my poor Vorta (well, a Breen and JH fought it for them, naturally) by Gerald's downloading of 3 personnel with reasonable integrity for the Enemies Of The State that he thought I had become.
They also threw a smoke grenade at my peace-loving occupational force (away team) -- as the puny, misguided terrorists they were. We were only trying to spread the orderly word of the Founders!
As you can see, I also liked the RPG aspect of my deck, now I got it better under control (as opposed to my first game with it, against Padd). As much as I was frustrated by it the first time around, I did like it now. (Thanks again for your pointers, Padd.)
Gerald and I also seem to be able to kid around about what happens during attempts; which makes our games fun. We could have a few laughs, e.g., about who went where with what lover. Animals! Didn't get any work done!
Also -- nice to see the Spoonhead dissidents in action, and that's what this event is mostly about. (Even though I myself didn't get a true DoW deck off the gground... sorry... I really tried!) I liked their facility-less and other dynamics. Nice expansion set! And again -- I can't explain it better than with the above efforts; but this was a very nice game. Thanks Joseph.
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Round 4 | | Tim Gerrard | FW (+15) |
g255 (21.04.30):
Tim, too, brought some Cardie Liberation dissidents to the table. I was a bit sad that I got to see them twice (which means not seeing some of the other DoW deck types, at all). But it's still a nice concept. And in keeping with the theme, of course. So from the RPG side, I had a blast again.
There was the Steal Breen Arms mission, whioch fit in well with my deck -- which I believe contains all Breen-themed cards. At least those I could find.
I was not at my very best for this game. E.g., forgot to play my HQ: Secure HW (An AI from what I had played in my local games! Sadly didn't find a use for it, in this game) for free. But my state of mind wasn't too bad, though, either (I think) -- it mainly meant I played/planned a bit less quickly than I could've if I'd been more awake.
And still, I won -- but in the most stupid (and shameful) way imaginable. Let me explain... (Cue staring into the distance, pan upwards, cross-fade to--)
It was a dark time for the Dominion. Having zero (0) points myself and seeing Grandar incrase from 45 to 80 (having finished his second mission), I laughingly (but, yes, rather seriously) nagged him to please not play another one of those nice 5-point interrupts and discard his freshly played 'For Cardassia!' to get another 15 points... I just feel so bad having lost so many games with zero (Yes! 0!) points over the past weeks. And I felt actually very sure he was going to win anyway, during his next turn.
So did he, apparently, because he humoured me (having the interrupt, he played it; but he discarded Damar's incident for 2 spoonheads, not for the points), saying he was curious about how I'd perform against the next dilemmas and also guessing that I wasn't able to win in 1 turn.
However, I had already cleared the dilemmas from under my 40-point mission, and somehow two other 35-point missions came easily. (Not sure if I had started attempting one of them already, previously?) I had the range left to return to the big four-oh; and as such, it was a too-easy win. We both hadn't seen that coming, for some reason. But the fact of the matter was, that I had begged Tim to allow me to earn some points; he graciously allowed it; and I got "some" (namely, 110) points in one go. No. That doesn't feel like a clean win to me. Still, Tim was adamant that I keep the win. (Perhaps to make me feel all the worse! Har har har! No, I don't really believe that.)
Come to think of it now, from another vantage point, it was actually (if I had done it on purpose!) "great roleplaying" on my part, because it was deviousness worthy of Keevan.
Which reminds me of our conversation (and Keiimaster's related reaction) in the forum event thread -- which was funny.
Some other stuff that happened: Two Disiks took out two Belvas to act out their primal urges; a double date if ever there was one! Also, some subservient culture within the Dominion chose to dump their radioactive waste somewhere in a garbage scow (the Founders cannot be held accountable for such details!) but Grandar's rebels dealt with that rather neatly: downloading a Tractor Beam unto a ship in orbit with a stalled Hidden Fighter! Which is perfectly legal (for now?), and funny to boot. And the Lovok Founder got a lot of play time. I like him, for some reason. Didn't get to see much of my Vorta, this time, though. Less than previous games, I think. And still haven't been able to build the Shipyards!
My Dyson Sphere nor Battle Bridge were triggered; luckily the Sphere got to see some action in previous games. Let Me Help was fun as ever; borderline (in)efficient (at least with the dilemmas I fed it), but fun.
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Round 5 | | Stephen R Sanders | TT (0) |
g258 (failed efforts to schedule 21.05.04-08):
It seems to have been clear quite early-on, that an obvious winner could've been decided after round 4. Voted whether to have 5th round. Due to my increasingly fluid schedule IRL, I found myself being less enthusiastic about a 5th round. But since I had been adamantly enthusiastic before, I chose to vote 'no opinion', to allow for the majority to decide 'for me'. In the end, the vote was a tie and our XO TD made an executive decision to play a 5th round. A bummer for my schedule, but secretly I was glad to get to play one more round with this deck.
However... when push came to shove, even after lengthy debates (first via PM and then on Disco) Goatee and I weren't able to find any overlap in our schedules. We really tried.
Goatee, then, was quick to offer to concede the game; but I felt the obstacles to our getting a game in came from my side as well, so I thought a True Tie might be more realistic in this case.
I'm not very concerned with rating, obviously; and it did really seem the better option to me -- however, a TT is also good towards an Achievement. A small comfort alongside a rather anti-climactic disappointment; also a shame that it happened with a player I hadn't yet got a chance to play with earlier. Hopefully we'll meet up at another time.
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Closing Thoughts |
My first 5-round event? Then again, I missed one round and wasn't able to schedule a second. But at least, it was new being in a gig with so many participants (16 at start; 14 at finish?), I guess. (Maybe the side events at Worlds rivalled this one? I'll have to look that up.)
I liked the active forum thread about the event -- well, parts of it -- where people had fun talking about the new set and their antics. (I was relieved to either have no stake in the more adversarial plotlines in the topic, or to have said my piece about such things at an earlier time, so I could steer clear.)
Also, the Vorta/Breen Peacekeepers deck that I ended up playing with, was a lot of fun -- after it finally got off the ground. The wide divide between how horrible it was to build, and how well it played in the (only!) 2 rounds after the 1st learning round, was remarkable.
The unplayed two rounds were a bit of a let-down, especially since I feel forced to step away from Organized Play for a few weeks or months; and the match with Goatee was supposed to be my "farewell" performance. (Don't worry -- or do! -- I'll be sure to re-surface sooner rather than later.)
Another regret is that I never got to see the inside of my Battle Bridge. (But that is easily explained, since my Vorta and Breen were very succesfull at their peacekeeping mission. Wrong deck to go for that achievement, perhaps; but see my deck notes for more info on that.)
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