Matt Kirk (CaptMDKirk) Tournament Report - 2E - Online Event 2015-10-19 - 12:00 AM My Timing is Digital v1.1 Introduction Having come close to an 8472 win the last time I tried them, I retooled a bit and went online. I dropped a few superfluous folks in favor of Kes and a second Evans. Round 1 Ted Reebel FW (+100) 8472 did its job and got online before Ted could finish a mission; he had some really complex interactions on his side that never really came into focus. Round 2 Daniel Matteson FW (+35) A close game with a critical stop on the last turn, also 8472'd the win. Don't remember a lot of the details, but Dan played a great game. Round 3 Nickolay Korotya FW (+30) My dreaded match-up: Relativity. Early on, I discovered an Exobiology shortage that would end up winning the game for me. I snagged Data on a Caretaker's Guests and then used Garth to throw him in the brig on my turn. After shutting me out for 6 or so turns, the TOS team finally got Terrasphere down before Nick went for his last mission. He finally picked up another Exo with Revised Doctor, and it was down to the final attempt. He had Original Thinker and Revised Chakotay in the mix, and I popped Endangered to throw Caretaker's Guests - Charismatic Mimic (which would make 8 in his core) - You Vant to Go Back? - "Rapid Progress". My thinking was, if he Kirk'd the first one, I'd still have a chance for him to flip over an even card for You Vant to Go Back so I could bounce Evil Doctor and stop him with no Exo on Progress. And if he didn't Kirk the first, then I'd use Caretaker's to bounce Evil Doctor for the same effect (my Dukat had been keeping his discard pile thin). He used Kirk on the first, put Mimic in his core, and flipped a Security Drills on You Vant - a lucky break for me. Great game Nick. Round 4 Jon Carter FW (+20) I was kinda hoping we would only play 3 rounds with 8 players, but we rolled on and I drew the 1E Rules Master piloting TK's tried and true TOS strike team. The game was defined early on by Causal Recursion - I tagged him with it early, and it forced him to go for a 4-mission win (he was playing 35/35/30/30). But he cleaned up my attempts at Terrasphere handily, and in the process blew up my ship. I did get it down, and we looked at each other blankly for a few turns as I rebuilt and he was reluctant to go to any more missions to build up my 8472 stash. He jokingly said he could play for a tie at that point, but I built up a second crew and went after the 8472 space mission. He got to blow me up again, and I worried that the tie might be inevitable, but I drew into Tacking and got my second wind. A third team finally assembled and headed out to take the space mission, and finally completed it with the help of a timely Field Studies (first time in the tournament!). He was working on Feldomite Rush, but now that I was up 60-35, I felt okay about using Endangered to lock him out. He ended up decking out, and since I only had 2 cards, I drew up for the win. Closing Thoughts The hype is real, 8472 is a thing. Yes, you can prepare for it, but if it catches you off-guard, it is very hard to manage. I would imagine a new Romulan 8472 build could be very tough to deal with.