Lucas Thompson (edgeofhearing) Tournament Report - 2E 2014-03-08 - 01:00 PM It was nice to use Harsh Conditions again Introduction Well, I picked my starter based on the idea that we might be drafting - Maquis was an unlikely choice for the card pool, so it would be more likely that I wouldn't be competing with people for resources. Also, the Maquis starter got Infinite Diversity, which was worth at least 1 free turn. But the consensus was against drafting, so we also added in some ID draft cards I'd printed (1 player's worth of TNG, and 1 of FTC) that covered the likely affiliations. Best pulls were Icheb (only real way for me to pass The Launching), Cascade Virus, and Tamal. Round 1 Chris O'Connell FW (+15) I got my free Infinite Diversity turn early, but then whiffed on skill tracking twice in a row which gave Chris an early lead. Fortunately, I was more successful stopping him at his third mission for long enough that his dilemma pile was able to return the favor and gift me a couple missions in a row. I tried out Agricultural Assessment in this round, and despite having the perfect draw for it, felt like it did not give me enough of an advantage to use over a fourth DMZ mission. Not Easily Taken never came out this game. Round 2 Len Neidorf FL (-100) Though I could have used the Agricultural Assessment boost here (Len was out and attempting much faster), I didn't get the draw for it anyways. Even though my dilemma plays bought me 4+ turns of 1 or none under after attempts, Len's dilemma work did the same - he got a second The Launching, and I never drew Icheb. I did get Not Easily Taken out and running, but attributes were never what I needed. Round 3 Chris Morse FW (+70) Morse got out a turn or two faster, but this time my dilemmas bought me much more time than his bought him. I also had Not Easily Taken out this time, but what made more of a difference was having Icheb and the skills for One Step Ahead out early. I'd put Hannah Bates in for this round, because by now it was clear that the skills for those two dilemmas were more important than anything else in this format. Also, this was the only game where I had Cascade Virus early, so I bought myself most of a turn by hitting Ptol with it (who also had a critical skill Morse needed for Telepathic Deception too). Closing Thoughts I like the virtual starters, but I wouldn't mind seeing them less reliant on One Step Ahead/The Launching, or at least seeing more of the necessary skills being built in to the slower decks. As it was, all of my missions needing >36 ended up not mattering much - Not Easily Taken and Tamal never changed the outcome of an attempt. But having 2Astro+2Physics for planets and 2Trans+2Prog for space, that made all the difference.