Scott Baughman (Neelix) Tournament Report - 2E Traditional 2011-02-19 - 02:00 PM Akiro Introduction Nathan Miracle (GooeyChewie) and I had decided we needed to go play Star Trek again on the East Coast after a three year absence from that section of the Tar Heel state. The week before we left I decided I wanted to try and earn an achievement out of it. Looking over the list, I saw the Military Assault Command achievement hadn't been earned by anyone yet so I figured I'd aim for that. All MACOs, all Starfleet seems like a tough nut to crack under any circumstance, then I noticed that the tournament Paul Cannon set up was "Traditional" format. Woah...no virtual cards? Did I even know how to play that way anymore? Nothing like a trial by fire to find out. After a nice 6 hour drive to get there (and one fender bender where an old man in a pick-up slammed into the rear of my van on Hwy. 70) we checked into our hotel and then headed to Rules of Engagement in nearby Havelock and set about getting ready. This is about when Nathan realized he had left ALL of his cards in Charlotte...six hours back that way. Oof. He decided to buy two Call to Arms starters and a booster box of Call to Arms packs at the card store and build a deck out of those in the hour or so before the tournament started. Truly, he needed to be Mr. Miracle now. Little did I know, I was going to have a rough day myself... Round 1 Joleanna Cannon FL (0) Rd1 vs Joleanna Cannon Jo played Bajor. Jo went first and played a lot of big Bajoran names including Sisko, shipwright and Bonus point Kira. I drew lots of events early but did attempt Automated Repair System on my 4th turn. Amanda Cole was given a Hard Time. On Jo's turn, Borum switched out with Bariel and they attempted Protect Escapees. An Issue of Trust and Training Accident equaled one dead and a bunch stopped. On my turn, we try the mission again and Between Duty and Respect hits after a Command Decisions and she picks up Furel from her discard pile. Wow, I can't believe BDAR actually worked, but then, I'm starting to notice MACOs have some pretty big skill holes — namely Diplomacy. The game ground on and I throw a Maglock to stop seven in space. On my turn, Gomtuu slams the MACOs (mmm...this looks like a LOOOONG day). Opaka shows up for Jo and downloads Solbor. Personal Duty has a big group selected but Jo plays Stricken Dumb (who plays this card anymore?) on Kira and slips by to solve for 35 points. Picking up the Pieces stops no one as Mullibok cannot be stopped. Sisko is Distracted and Mugato stops two but she solves Investigate Maquis Activity. It's 65 to 0. I finally solve ARS, but without the 10 bonus points from Starfleet Earth, I'll need to solve four missions to win. It was academic as Joleanna solved Aid Lost Colony to win. 0-1 Round 2 Nathan Miracle FW (0)View opponent's ReportView original Report Round 2 vs Nathan. After forgetting his cards, Nathan built a Dominion and Terok Nor deck with cards he bought there. I went first. I drew Enterprise x3 in my opening hand and Nathan played 2x Stir Crazy on turn one. He played Quite A Coincidence on turn 2 naming Jeremiah Hayes. I head to ARS on my turn 4 with 7. Stopped by Inside Collaborators. MACO's have some serious skill holes. Speaking of holes, on Nathan's turn 4 he played Jem'Hadar Strike Force, come over and blasted more holes in Enterprise, killed Amanda Cole and scored 10 points. It's going to be a long game. I play Travis and Reed and attempt with 6. Quantum Filament hits ( lousy shields) and stops Chang (who's LOST now, Jin?) before a Secret Identity removes Sean Hawkins and I replace with another Sean. I solve for 40 — hurray Earth bonus points! Fly back to earth, get the Bizzaro wonder twins and discard Machinations (a handy Temporal Event to fuel Enterprise) to get to Retrieve Material and attempt with 7. Skeleton Crew, Limited Welcome and then Ornaren Threat. Nelson Kemper stopped, and Malcolm and Kemper save him. Suddenly, Nathan throws Parting Shot to kill Kemper (way to put those 10 bonus points from the Jem'hadar Strike Force to good use). Sean saved him and only one dilemma is overcome. I stop Nathan on his turn and then I attempt with 7 and face rogue Borg Ambush. We left the guns at home Sargent. Nathan attempted with 8 at Rescue Prisoners of War. I play Distraction and Nathan looked very distracted. Unbelievable Emergency stops 4 due to his dual hq. I named Security, hoping to get a kill. But as personnel are first stopped by the dilemma, Weyoun is no longer present with Founders so he has no Security and no one dies. On my turn, I solve thanks to Reed getting past Inside Collaborators. Nathan attempts to Rescue POWs again and reduces my dilemma points with Damar, Useful Adjunct. I draw 5 and spend 6 on Training Accident and Personal Duty to stop him. I head to Elude Federation Forces and attempt with 9. He stirs crazy for 12. Murder investigation stops three (ouch) and Don't Let It End This Way kills Chang. Wavefront stops one of my Amanda Coles and I'm stopped. Damar denies me a dilemma and Nathan solves. On my turn, 8 face 2 dilemmas. Secret Identity gets rid of Amanda Cole. I replace with Brennan Scott then he and Hayes are Forsaken as my only two Honor people. He attempts Destroy Iconian gateway with 8. An Issue of Trust plus Chula: the dice stops him. Attempt with 9 after finally drawing Shuttlepod Two to get a backup crew there. He stirs crazy for 7. Another Ornaran Threat almost kills Sean, but Escape saved him. On Nathan's turn, Damar prevents my draw and my two dilemmas are space. I throw Agonizing Encounter, Night Terrors and then WNOHGB and it hits. I solve with 7 for game. Whew. 1-1 I had played a few games against Scott the night before, and he revealed to me his all-MACO deck. He hoped to win the Military Assault Command achievement. Apparently, the major skill holes in such a deck had hindered him greatly against Jo. My opponent got off to a quicker start again, but a quick Inside Collaborators proved he would have to deal with those skills holes again. Too bad Inside Collaborators was my ONLY dilemma which worked against his skill holes. Jem'Hadar Strike Force and two Parting Shots kept this game fairly close, but in the end Scott prevailed. Round 3 Paul Cannon FL (0) Round 3 vs Paul Cannon Voyager Paul drops all space missions and I'm in trouble. I went first playing Travis and Sean. He plays voyager with Kim and Janeway, Forceful Captain. Later, he plays science pads and Running a Tight Ship. I get Amanda and Hayes out. He plays Chakotay, Bridge and Belanna. I play Enterprise and attempt ARS with 7. Pinned Down, Hard Time and Guess Who's Coming for Dinner? stop me. Marie Caplan and AP 7 of 9 show up. He attempts with 6 in space. I get 5. Personal Duty stops no one and he solves Caretaker's Array. Now I need 4 missions to win, but so does he. He attempts Exolore Micro-wormhole and I get 5. Explosive Decompression kills Chakotay. I play Sascha Money and attempt with 6. I get stopped by Temptation and Shattered. Chakotay comes back! Ya can't keep a good Maquis down. Wow, Jo got Between Duty and Respect to work and now Paul got Shattered to work. I keep those dilemmas in my box because I didn't think they were that good, but now I'm thinking of putting that Shattered dilemma especially in my burgeoning Voyager Future Holograms deck, but I digress. On his next turn, Paul plays Marquay and then two Field Studies to get two more dilemmas overcome. I get three dilemmas and play Spatial Distortion to off Marquay. He solved to be at 40 points. Next, he attempts Assault on The Undine — oh, sorry, Assault on Species 8472 for those who don't play Star Trek Online (and if you're reading THIS and you don't play STO, what the heck is wrong with you?!? LOL!) Distress Call stops him. I play Chang and Brennan Scott, and attempt with 6. Paul flushes his dilemma draw and draws a new one with Unexpected Difficulties (Hey look, it's the Enterprise getting zapped by lightning. I had gotten so used to seeing Data playing with the Chinese finger trap, I actually had to read that card before I recognized what it was, HAH!) And Chula: the Chandra stops me. He plays The Long Journey Home. Old Differences stops two and he's stopped. I finally play Shuttlepod 2 and get ARS solved. I send 9 at Retrieve Material. Paul flushes and throws Back Room Dealing to kill Travis and then Assassination Attempt, but I Escape. Rogue Borg Ambush doesn't kill Sascha Money because she can't die. He plays The Doctor and attempts Assault with 7. I stop 2 and he fails. I play Shuttlepod 1, Brennan and Machinations. I send Enterprise back to Earth and try with 5. I hit Chula: Pick one and send in Hayes from Earth. I return Brennan Scott to hand and solve. 40-60. Paul plays Neelix and a Fed Compression Rifle then another Field Studies gets Maglock and WNOHGB! I get to draw 1 dilemma and play none. He solves. He attempts Collect Omicron Particles. I throw Morale Choice and Chula: the Dice. I stop three with MC and he passes Dice but fails the mission. I go attempt Elude Federation Forces with 9. Paul checks his ship hand and discard pile to see if Shattered is worth it. He throws Chula: Pick One, Shattered and then Tactical Disadvantage. I pass Shattered but just as in the picture Enterprise gets the crap kicked out of it by Tactical Disadvantage ouch. He plays Stadi and attempts with 9 and I get 6. I machinate for Personal Duty, but as I always get confused about which skills Voyager people do or do not have, it stops no one. (Seriously, why does Janeway have Engineer?). Paul solves and wins with The Long Journey Home. I finish the day 1-2 and in 3rd place. And I think getting that MACO achievement is going to be really tough!  For prizes I got a tenth anniversary collection (each player did) and a pack of Strange New Worlds and a pack of 2E. I pulled an Assassination Attempt and AP 7 of 9! Woot! Time to go back to the drawing board for a decent deck, and let the achievements fall where they may. Thanks to Paul and Jo for such a great tournament and great prizes!