So, it's 12:30 AM the day of the tournament, and I need a deck.  I had planned on trying a Romulan Capture deck, but my inexperience in that affiliation left me a little unsure of myself.    Chris Brennan and I were to be heading for a tournament in Worcestor Mass in a few hours, and I needed something I was comfortable with.  So I pushed all the Rommie cards to the side of my desk, and pulled out my binder of Fed cards.  I felt like having a little cheese and had some hopes of finishing in the top half of the players.  So I began making a deck extremely similar to the first one I brought to Worcestor a few months ago.  It's actually posted in this issue of WNOHGB.  Go ahead and look- I'll still be here when you get back.

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Ok?? Good.  So armed with my 6 planet Fed Med deck with other bits of cheese, I went with Chris to Worcestor.  We made decent time, and arrived there before any of the other players (giving me time to do my dilemma combos.)
 

Round 1 Vs. "The Other-Other" Chris Ray
    He had a Terran Empire/Delta Quadrant deck (I think it was DQ Feds).  I was able to DH Sloan to Disrupt Alliance and trip the Sheliak there (unfortunately there was no Mirror Terok Nor there :( ).  Yeah, I know it's mean but I was feeling kinda cheesy that day.  So after he Kevined one of my Genertronic Reps, I was able to grab another from the deck.  With enough Med to ensure no one died, I earned my Hor'gahn for double turns.  The Phoenix helped me reach 100 points faster, giving me the win.  The one thing that was weird to me is that I hit no misseeds, they were all planet or space/planet.  Kinda funny though.
Round: 2(+100)
Overall: 2(+100)
 

Round 2 vs. Steve "Kor" Clicquennoi
    Steve was playing a Hirogen hunting deck with DQSS for some extra plays and draws.  Unfortunately for him (but not me) he had no way of getting to the Alpha Quadrant.  With some well placed Dilemma combos, I was able I was able to kill some of Steve's Hirogen.  It was right after I had cleared out Plague Planet with my Horga'hn seeded there that I realized I forgot to put any Archeology in the deck whatsoever.  But I was able to Reflection Therapy to get me my artifact and some points.  Of course he killed my only officer on the table with a dilemma of his, making me unable to solve Gravesworld, with all the dilemmas cleared.  Again, the final dilemma under a mission was Executive Authorization, and with no padd or President, I was stopped.  And of course having my officer dead prevented me from using Bricklayer with McCoy.  However, a well placed The Higher The Fewer gave Steve only 97 points.  When he attempted another mission for the win, he hit Chula: The Lights, and with a tie chose Magistrate Drang to go back to hand.  He soon regretted it when he hit the last dilemma- Executive Authorization.  So the next turn I solved a mission to bring me past the 100 point mark, however Steve's The Big Picture prevented the win.  My Horga'hn turn still didn't give me a win so I let Steve go.  He started to move his Hirogen ship back to the outpost at the end of the spaceline but only had the range to make a one way trip each turn.  My turn came up, and I was able to solve Espionage Mission for the win.  It was only after the game that Steve realized that the Temporal Micro-Wormhole he had on the table would've let him report Drang to his ship.
Round: 2(+3)
Overall: 4(+103)

 Well, the other players were still in their games, so a very hungry Brak, Kor, and Mrs. Kor went out to get some dinner.  We walked down the street to a hotdog bar.  They had excellent chili dogs, I must say.  Once arriving back at the store, it was agreed to make this a 3 round tournament, as most of us had a long ride back home and wanted to start out soon.

 
Round 3 vs. Chris "Rom" Brennan
    Of course I had to face him in the final round.  The one guy I've never beaten, but have come close a few times.  Chris had a Terran Empire/Vidiian deck.  I did the Sheliak trip @ Mirror Bajor, but again there was no MTN there.  The game went rather close, me and my Genetronic Replicators and missions with misseeds and him with his DQSS.  The one thing I was perplexed by was that he never came over to use Tantalus field on me.  He said later he just really didn't feel like it.  So I'm at 40 points, stopped by a Dead End in one place and trying to do other missions.  Of course I hit the one killer that G.R. doesn't help against- Spatial Rift.  So of course it kills R'Mor and O'Brien, leaving me no Astro and only one Engineer.  So next turn I go to another mission to try to solve that one and what do I hit but another Spatial Rift (@%^*%@^%@*#@!!!!).   So long story short, a very close game, Chris won.
Round: 0(-60)??
Overall: 4(+43)??

Well the tournament went rather well.  And my deck took 3rd place.  And there wasn't a Balancing Act in sight the whole time.  But for now I think I'm going to retire it.
It's good to use old school cheese, but use the same ones, and everyone expects it.  Just trying to find more ways to counter the DQ cheese syndrome. ;)

-Chris "Brak" O'Connell