Matt Kirk (CaptMDKirk) Tournament Report - 2E - Trek Masters 2017-11-11 - 10:00 AM It Aint Broke... Introduction Unlike Worlds, I knew that the 2E Texas Chainsaw Masters was one day with six rounds of tournament play, and I needed a deck that could get Full Wins consistently, and be able to navigate the minefield of strategies that were trying to do the same. To that end, and since it had been scarcely a month since Orlando, I looked at the Worlds Day 1 top seed: Lucas Thompson's Starfleet. He had taken Tyler Fultz's older build from a couple years back and really slimmed it down to its core strengths; Novice Mediator Archer, Overbearing Observer T'Pol, and Accumulated Knowledge. Without a lot of the "win more" cards, it quickly proved itself as the most consistently successful deck I've played in a long time (about the same reliability as Klingon Sword circa 2013). I knew there were several players in the field who favored Tragic Turn-style dilemma piles, which was the only thing I found lacking in Lucas' build (he had adjusted for the meta and sailed through successfully). I knew people would be gunning for my key personnel, so I added some insurance in the forms of Emergency Transport Unit, Escape, and Grav-Plating Trap. I had considered Trellium-Ds, but ultimately chose against them in favor of keeping Alpha 5 Approach in the mission selection, and that proved to be vital in a few matches. With some last-minute retooling, I readied for the gauntlet, and began by facing down a somewhat unfamiliar opponent... Round 1 Nicholas Yankovec MW (+35) I think Nick and I had maybe played once before this game. I groaned internally as I saw Nick line up the two Stakoron missions next to new Founder's Homeworld, and I knew this game would be a good indicator if my additional countermeasures were up to the task. As it turns out, Becalmed is pretty decent vs Jem'Hadar. And while my Grav-Traps helped me dodged a couple of Our Death Is Glory to the Founders, I lost three different turns thanks to Crippling Strike (ultimately the source of my Mod Win). I managed to hold Nick's Jemmies to one mission, and avoided the True Tie with a second mission complete on the last turn. Round 2 Constance Corbett FW (+70) Another unfamiliar face, and more terror as I realized Constance was using the Romulan discard deck I had used a couple days before in the 2E Team event. Constance had the ace draw with Telek R'Mor, Keras, and Gal Gath'thong out on turn 2. She didn't start attacking my hand though... so maybe she was unfamiliar with what it was supposed to do? She simply assembled a team and started attempting missions on the same turn that I was ready. I was able to find some solid answers to the Romulan threat, and after Malcolm Reed stacked a dilemma beneath Jupiter, I was ready to dig in. I gradually pulled ahead as Archer & T'Pol worked their magic, but after Constance had gotten a second team & ship ready, she started using Gal Gath'thong to empty out what was left of my hand. It was too little, too late, and I wrapped up the game before time was called. Round 3 John Corbett FW (+40) The match-up I had been both anticipating and dreading the most... sitting down against the current World Champion gave a certain weight to the match that focused my attention in a peculiar way. I knew from watching John's Day 2 matches at Worlds that his Ferengi leaned heavily on Rules shenanigans, and that part of his success that day was next to no event removal from his opponents. Well, I had come prepared, and I dedicated my removal suite to keeping his Rules off the table. John got out fairly quickly, and his turn 1 Call of the Nagus into 3x Par Lenor signaled to me that he was going to employ the full chicanery that Ferengi had to offer. I was pretty familiar with the mega-counters build of the deck, but this more traditional build was certainly more stable and had more depth against attrition piles. For instance, I threw An Issue of Trust while he had no Benevolent Zek in play - he simply rolled all three Ferengi computers under the deck and kept on trucking. And since I had focused on keeping Rules off the table, I was counterless when he used a Rule #33 to dodge Where No One Has Gone Before. I kept the pressure on, and John's dilemmas began to wilt against T'Pol and Archer. I managed to stick a couple of Intimidations, and even got one of them back with Shran. That gave me enough time to start double-teaming and push for the lead. I only needed two attempts at Terra Nova to get the job done, and I closed out an intense match against the Champ. (We then commiserated about my deck's Design mistakes and why it should be nerfed.) Round 4 Ben Hosp FW (+30) After a tough loss at the lunchtime Fat Dad Soccer game, I found myself at 3-0, just 1 point off the lead that both the Van Breemens had set. While they faced each other, I drew the Hosp and his Terok Nor dilemma removal shenanigans. While my dilemma pile was not terribly deep, I still felt like Starfleet's superior mission attempting was going to pay large dividends. I made sure to track for any Medical that Ben might have played, and when I was sure he didn't have any, I managed to send his first space team away for a while on Where No One Has Gone Before. I also made sure to save the Uninvited in my hand for his Survey New World, which made his life more difficult. The key play of this game came in the last turn, when I played Gannet Brooks, while keeping Travis Mayweather in my hand. I hadn't seen the Accelerated Aging combo coming, but still managed to dodge the bullet with Gannet gaining the Astrometrics I needed for the Full Win. Round 5 Michael Van Breemen FW (+70) After four rounds, I had completed my goal of going at least 4-2 on the day. But as I sat down against Michael, I felt I might actually have the best shot to win the whole dang thing. Michael was having a rough time finding a ship, while my early hand had no personnel, and we both struggled for a while to put crews together. Michael was unshockingly chasing another achievement while going 4-0 himself, and I found myself facing many less-familiar Klingons with no staffing icons. I ended up trailing Michael, and with his outstanding dilemma play, I needed a big answer on my end. It came in the form of Hard Time - Adopted Authority - Polywater Intoxication versus his team of 8 with one dilemma under. Luckily Adopted Authority ended up stopping two of his folks, and I had stopped the team cold with no dilemmas overcome. That swung the momentum back in my favor, and I found the last couple pieces I needed to blaze through my last couple missions. Round 6 Amber Van Breemen FW (+65) I could hardly believe that my destiny was in my own hands for the last round. I led the pack at 5-0 with 19 VPs. Amber trailed by only 2 at 17, but even if she only managed a Mod Win against me, we would both end at 20 VP, and she would win with a Head-to Head tiebreak. I needed to hold her to at least a True Tie in order to claim victory. But my Moral Choices had lain dormant all day, and were eager to be used against my most unfavorite archetype to face: Relativity. Even though Amber had stocked Metron Arena, my Greasy Dukat played a vital role in this match. By placing only non-[Fut] personnel on Metron Arena, Amber would either have to commit to go retrieve them, or let them die at the start of each turn due to Relativity's text. An early Shared Hallucination was also key, stripping Amber's extra Revised Chakotays out of her hand. Since she already had Revised Chakotay in play, Greasy Dukat happily removed the other two copies as they hit the discard pile. With help from some beneficial random selections, I was able to hold off Amber's premium mission solvers in space just long enough to take the lead and complete Jupiter for 40 points. The deck snowballed from there, and aside from Amber's heads-up inclusion of Dereliction of Duty, there was not much else in her dilemma pile that could hold off the Starfleet juggernaut. Closing Thoughts Even though I had accidentally left in three copies of Skeleton Crew after changing the second Delphic mission back to Alpha 5, the dilemma pile that Lucas had put together was elegant and ended up being a perfect call for the Masters meta. Big thanks to all my opponents for some truly spectacular games. I ended up not facing any of the other Starfleet decks, which was a little strange (that probably worked in my favor). Texas Chainsaw Masters was a great time, and I hope we make it a yearly tradition.