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Connecticut State Championship Report by Chris Brennan So I woke up this morning and decided that I needed a new deck for States. I took a Ferengi capture deck that was based on my old Romulan capture deck and modified it back to a Romulan deck. Tal Shiar personel, Outgunned / Ambush etc with Chief OBrien / Brainwash for some potential mission stealing, those easy Gamma Quad missions, and an anti-officer theme with my dilemmas / BBSD + Calamarain. Overall it worked a lot better than I expected. The deck design is in a separate article. The games went like this: Round 1 - Jon Wiegand. A really new player with a basic Ferengi mission solving deck. He waited to get a ship before attempting Ferenginar, and was surprised when I said he didn't need to be on a ship to attempt a planet mission, that's how new he was to the game. But there was a Crisis seeded there, so it didn't matter anyway. :) He seeded his Study Cometary Cloud before I got mine, so I put dilemmas there that I could pass, I don't think he was expecting that. Tarus solved Explore Interstellar Matter (which was in there for the Calamarain). I ran down to Market Research, picked up Zek from the Cardassian Trap, Brainwashed him for Acquisition and solved the mission for the win. Round 2 - John 'Jack' Simon, who taught me the game way back when, everything since then has been his fault. ;) He had a Klingon / Romulan AMS / HQ deck. I took advantage of his Office of the Proconsul (I only stacked the Continuing Committee) and was able to play personnel very quickly. 2nd turn, my seeded Husnock ship and a D'deridex Advanced came over to his Neutral Outpost, which was between my outpost and Romulus. Without an outpost, his AMS ability was hurt. Sisters of Duras, Lore and a few other NAs cleared out remaining personnel in the HQ. Calamarian and the threat of Outgunned kept his small ships away. I simply played faster than him. I stole Investigate Shattered Space, then Hole in Space, then realized he didn't seed anything to protect Romulus (which he got out first) so I passed my dead end there for a 100-0 win. Round 3 - Greg Dabkowski. Let me put it this way: we were the 2 highest ranked players there, and we knew this match was coming. He had a Bajoran speed deck. All I have to say is: True Tie 0-0 on time. I'm sure he's writing his report right now, there's really nothing else for me to say on this. Round 4 - Jason Bauer. Romulan space deck. After 3 games, I finally got to use Calamarain to damage something. They were just running around looking menacing until now. While he was hiding at his outpost. A Reflection Therapy for Empathy passed my Cardassian Trap at his Investigate Shattered Space for 55 points with my mission specialists. Another RT to change Tarus to Tal Shiar gave me 45 points after passing my Dead End at Quash. Round 5 - Mark DePace. Romulan / Fed Hologram PNZ. Yes, Hologram. Wow. I loved this deck. Well, I hated playing against it, but I might have to try this myself. I learned the downside of building a deck at 8:00 am - I forgot I put a Devil in my Tent. Still, I was able to hold him off with all my anti-officer dilemmas while I solved Study Cometary Cloud and Cloaked Mission. He eventually got a PNZ solved, but time ran out. I won 65-60 because of AMS. This game included my favorite play of the day: I outgunned a Husnock Ship (it was extremely damaged) and captured 2 Chief OBriens and a Paul Rice. I used my Chief to Brainwash a Chief, used that one to Brainwash the other, and that last one to Brainwash Rice. If I only had a AU Door in the deck.... oh well. And I have to say, the timing of Isabella makes that card extremely powerful, perhaps Too powerful. I need more youth in the deck, or at least a Reflection Therapy or Suna in the Tent. Round 6 - Jeff Stone. I see the first PNZ and I think I'm in for another frustrating game. Then I see Ferenginar. Yes, Ferengi PNZ. 1st turn he had Zek, Brunt (from Writ) and 10 and 01 at the HQ. I happened to draw my 2 STAs. Played one at his HQ, Devidian Doored the other, killed 2 personel. He played Soong, a free android and another Ferengi, I went and played my 10 and 01, killed 2 more people. 3 turns and a lot of deaths later (on both sides) I had slowed him down long enough to get some free personnel at my own HQ. I stole 2 PNZs for the win. Totals for the day: (only for the decks I faced, I didn't have time to see the others....) 5-0-1, 10 (+375), second place. 3 of my own missions solved, 9 of the opponents'. I did ask around about Fair Play, I think there was only one in the whole tournament. Most of the missions I stole could not have been protected anyway... 4 Outgunned ships, 12 captured Bajorans from one. One commandeered DS9. Only 3 ships damaged by Calamarain, but their presence caused a lot of worry. Only one opposing BBSD. 9 Holograms erased at once by a Devidian Doored STA. ;) 5 opposing decks with HQ's, 2 had both Romulan HQs. Only 1 deck with Spacedoors. 3 dead opposing Brunts. (but who's counting?) One Horga'hn, which I stole along with the mission. 3 gamma quad missions, all mine. Only one Hippocratic Oath, and that wasn't mine, but Aid Fugitives made people paranoid anyway. Countless "I can't believe you're actually playing that" looks. No counters to my GTTT, no Uxbridges on the Brainwashes, no Masaka attempts to get rid of DD's, one It's Only a Game / Scorched Hand combo, one Scanner Interference lockdown, no Oof, no Countermanda, no Revolving Door, no Computer Crash. No opponents tried to steal my missions. 3 opposing decks with Examine Singularity, 2 for Masakas, 1 for Spacedoor, no Black Holes or Red Alerts or ATAs anywhere today. Successfully used Distortion of Space/Time, Scanner Interference, Mirror Image, HQ Defensive Measures, and Spacedock. The lesson: know what you need to have to counter popular strategies. No wasted seed slots. I only had 15 dilemmas and they were enough. So that's that. Not much else to say. Thanks to everyone who played, this was a great tournament. Thanks to Alidar Jarok for running it. See you all at the Grand Slam. Don't ask about the Twinkies. Alidar's Note: Mmmmmmm..... Twinkies..... Chris 'Rom' Brennan crbrennan@yahoo.com See the deck featured in this tournament report