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Charlie Plaine (MidnightLich)
Tournament Report - 2E Standard - Risa Regional
2011-06-18 - 02:00 PM
DominionTerok NorHo.S.S. for the Boss
Introduction
Earlier in the week, I failed to read the cards in a deck and build a single-HQ version of Kevin Jaeger's Ho.S.S-D.R.O.N.E. deck. Well, that was a bad idea because Ruling Council doesn't work without Mouth of the Wormhole. I wanted to give the deck another chance, and I didn't want to repeat the mistake of building a deck too close to the tournament, so I modified the deck (adding back in Terok Nor and Dukat) and decided to run with it.
Round 1KlingonCarlos MayaFW (+15)
Carlos was playing a Klingon Solver with a splash of battle, and it turned out to be a key moment for him in the game. I had been able to solve Clash at Chintoka and Deliver Prisoners, and had the Defiant ready to move more dilemmas to beneath my final mission, Survey New World. Carlos was able to stop my attempt, and that left me fearing his Klingon fleet. On his turn, he played a Damage Maneuver and - expecting my Defiant to be destroyed - I countered the event using Our Death is Glory to the Founders, and killing my Jem'Hadar aboard the Defiant. Carlos proved that he's a smarter (and wiser) player than I, when he played another event and destroyed my Dominion Battleship, stranding my crew at Survey New World and leaving me unable to move dilemmas with the destaffed Defiant. I attempted SNW again, but he was able to stop me, and his killing of one of my crew and the loss of another to the mission left me in big, big trouble. I now had to play enough people at Founder's Homeworld to staff the Dominion Battleship I had in my hand - three turns worth. If I could hold him off three turns, I could win (because I could move dilemmas with the Defiant and auto-solve the buried Survey New World.) I was able to stop Carlo's Klingons just long enough with my dilemma pile to get to time being called, giving me one last turn to win. I was able to play a 2-cost Vorta for free with my double Hollow Plesantries, giving me my 5th staffing icon and play my Dominion Battleship. With it's 12 Range, I was able to move everywhere I needed to be and solve SNW for the win. Great game. Carlos seemed really happy that his deck had taken out my ship, and he played very well.
Round 2BorgJake GriffithFW (+100)
This was my first time playing Jake, and he was playing Borg for, as he said, "the first time in seven years." I got out a Hollow Pleasantries early, so he took advantage of the card drawing and was playing a nice selection of Drones while I played Vorta and took a 14-counter turn with Eris+AWC. I set him back a turn by using Weyoun to "distract" the Borg Queen, forcing him to attempt without her. I felt bad for Jake when he threw just two dilemmas at my space mission, a filter (that caught one) followed by a Tactical Disadvantage. He revealed two Borg Cubes, which with WEAPONS 24 would have been more than enough against 99% of decks. It normally would have been enough against me, too, but I'd just happened to draw into all three of my Dominion Battleships, giving me SHIELDS 30. That let me solve the mission and, since I was out of Range, I stopped the Defiant and moved over two dilemmas. Jake managed to attempt sans Queen, but I'd tracked his personnel and hit him with a blind Dal'Rok to stop him with no dilemmas under. Meanwhile, I was attempting my planet missions and Jake was able to stop me with copies of An Issue of Trust. His next turn, he played another Borg Queen and Data, flew home and back, and attempted again. I throw a combo that ended in a Tsiolkovski Infection and killed three of his beefier Drones, and I was able to solve, move dilemmas, and solve my final two missions on my next turn for the win. After, Jake asked me for some tips on how to improve his deck, and I suggested a few virtual and physical cards that might help. I hope he's able to tweak the deck and come back with guns blazing at a future tournament.
Round 3KlingonJohnny HolevaFW (+15)
Johnny and I always have epic games, and this was no exception. Going into the tournament, I was expecting to see either his Borg or his Klingons, and wasn't surprised to see Qo'noS hit the table. Korath meant that I wasn't able to keep my events on the table too long, so my strategy turned into one of drawing out his destruction. I wanted to make him use his equipment and his Grav-Plating Traps on stuff early, so he wouldn't have them for my Ruling Councils later. I struggled at my first mission while Johnny was making big progress at Rescue Prisoners, eventually solving it and moving onto Brute Force before I'd completed Clash at Chintoka. At one point, he'd hit me with a Gomtuu, and the next turn, he hit me with my own Gomtuu via a Repressed Message (even though he didn't need to) in order to leave me with two Damage Markers on my ship. Fortunately for me, he didn't draw into a battle event so I lived to fight another day. On my next turn, I played an extra Battleship (still no sign of the Defiant), and flew out to Clash in order to solve with six. Johnny was up almost two missions, so I decided to play my two Ruling Councils for points instead of saving them for unstops, hoping I could draw into my third before I solved my second mission. That turned out to be a mistake, as the unstopping power would have been much more useful. Suffice it to say, Johnny stopped me hard at Deliver Prisoners. Meanwhile, he solves Brute Force and heads over to Investigate Alien Probe. What I didn't know at the time (and he told me later) was that he only had one Anthropology Klingon on the table, so the double attempts I feared would be bluffs on his part. Johnny chose not to do that and attempted each time with a full crew. I was able to stop him once, and then on my turn I was able to solve Deliver Prisoners and take a shot at Survey New World, stacking two dilemmas under the mission. Right after the start of his next turn, time was called. As Johnny had gone first, this would be his final turn, and if I could stop him, would give me one last chance. He showed me staffing on his ship at home, and my heart sank - I would probably not be able to stop two teams, given that most of my dilemma pile was high cost dilemmas and I had no events in core. Fortunately, Johnny's lack of Anthro caused him to change his mind and fly home, and then back with his best crew of nine. I got very lucky and drew a Chula: The Chandra (stopping three) and an Old Differences (stopping two), leaving him unable to solve and guaranteeing me a modified win. I had one more turn to play for a full win, and I started by drawing a card - U.S.S. Defiant. I had 85 points and needed to solve a 3rd mission, so I played an At What Cost? (which was not prevented) and dropped the Defiant, drew some cards and played an extra staffing or two. I was able to fly home, staff both ships, and fly back, stopping the Defiant to move two more dilemmas beneath Survey New World and then attempt and complete with four. Great game down to the wire.
Round 4DS9-EarthChris DonatiFL (-30)View opponent's Report
Chris was playing a deck that I was quite familiar with, a DS9-E Jarseh-Inyo deck, but he'd added in Assess Contamination for some extra dilemma avoidance. I was nervous because Assess is pretty bad news for my dilemma pile, but I tried to remain confident in the strength of my deck. Chris was also playing lots of events and big cost dilemmas, but I still hit 2/2 with Unfair Comparison. (That's a fun card.) I made a critical mistake early when I chose not to counter his Promenade School (thinking I would save it for an At What Cost), which allowed him to use Jarseh-Inyo's ability. Stupid, stupid mistake that played a big part in my losing the game. I was able to stop him twice at Mediate Peace Treaty, but had to over throw both times because of Kirk. I was finally able to get a Weyoun out and eliminate Kirk, but the damage had been done. Meanwhile, I had terrible trouble getting past Donati's dilemmas at Clash at Chintoka. On Chris' next turn, he solved Mediate and then solved Track Survivors with a double attempt, putting me severely behind. With the pressure on, and with Donati's incredible dilemma luck (he threw an 8-cost dilemma at every mission attempt), I burned two Ruling Councils to get through Clash at Chintoka and headed over to solve Deliver Prisoners before getting stopped. On Chris' penultimate turn, he attempted Assess Contamination with twelve, and I was able to draw three skill dilemmas that just stopped him. In addition, he'd blown up my Reclaim Terok Nor hoping I'd be unable to use that trick. Instead, on my turn, I played a Feast on the Dying to get back my Reclaim Terok Nor and a Ruling Council and hoped I could go for the win. I moved two dilemmas from Clash at Chintoka to Deliver Prisoners, allowing me to solve it but leaving Survey New World empty. Still, with a RC in hand, I figured I had two solid shots. Donati's amazing dilemma luck continued, and he drew the perfect combo: Hard Time, Overwhelmed, Whisper in the Dark and Sylvea (the latter of which were both free). That left me with one personnel in play, and I conceded the game.