Death to the Ferengi
by William "Spock" Springer
Well, the last few tournaments here, I've played against a really
annoying Ferengi Nor deck that spends 5 minutes downloading every turn,
so I decided to do something about it, with a Kazon/Vidiian armada :-).
While some people were away at Gencon this weekend, 9 players showed up
at Clockwork Comics. I neglected to take notes, so no names and short
report this time.
Game 1: vs AQ Feds
He went first and got off to a fast start, loading up the Enterprise
with 7 or 8 people and going after his missions on the 2nd turn.
So I wormholed over and blew it up. After that he was more careful
to dock his ships. :-) (I didn't bother his outpost or his HQ)
While my dilemmas slowed him down, I worked through two of my missions
for the win. 2 (+100)
Game 2: vs Ferengi Nor
This game, I show no mercy ;-). First turn, my Vidiian and Kazon
outposts use their special downloads and I spacedoor for a Vidiian Interceptor,
Defend Homeworld for Penk, and QIR for Sulan, who plays for free as a Medical-classification
Vidiian. Discard Art of Diplomacy for a Vidiian Harvester, harvest
a mission specialist to download Maleth, a security-classification personnel
with leadership. Sulan captains the Vidiian Interceptor, so I discard
my Make It So to download Ready Room Door for a Tactical Console, placing
RRD back on the deck. He can see what's coming. ;-)
Next turn, report the Vidiian Scout Vessel with Nadirum (an officer) to the array. RRD gets me a captain's log, Assign
Support Personnel gets me a Kazon to staff the seeded Kazon Warship, Organ Theft gets me Motura/Dereth to command the scout, and
Penk downloads the Pendari Champion to give me another leadership.
Everything gets loaded on the Kazon Warship, which I wormhole to Terok
Nor. Shields of Terok Nor: 34. Weapons of my three ships: 35.
On my third turn I blow up the nor, and my opponent announces that he is
terrified of my deck. Having retreated to Ferengal, he starts sending
out small cloaked ships (all that latinum-purchases equipment!) which attempt
to clear out the missions. Since he has to decloak to attempt, though,
I'm able to commandeer a ship, steal an equipment aboard, and harvest two
of his people (not in that order) for a cool 50 points. After that
I wormhole myself back to the DQ and start clearing out missions.
A few of his ships find their way to the DQ as well; it seems he neglected
to include Operate Wormhole Relays. :-) I'm stopped for a few
turns while I search for Physics, and he scores 15 points for my Cytherians,
then I solve two missions for the win, 100-15. (Yes, I had Intermix
Ratio, but I was playing very quickly to not time out and didn't get around
to downloading it)
2 (+85), Cumulative 4 (+185)
Game 3: vs DQ Feds
Well, I won't be blowing up his facilities; he didn't seed any!
I actually go first, and commandeer his seeded Equinox first turn for 20
points. After that I build up while he plays a ship, I remind him
to hide it ;-), he beams the people to a planet and I blow up the ship.
I don't bother wormholing any of his ships to the MQ, and eventually he
does manage to use Voyager to tow away a scout combo and solve a mission
for 30, after which I solve two of my missions for the win. 2 (+70),
cumulative 6 (+255)
At this point, nobody else has more than 4 match points, but Jefferson
is still playing; if he wins, he'll have 5 and I'll play him next, else
I'll play against my brother, which means if we both win our games I'll
be first and he'll be second. Unfortunately, Jefferson loses, so
I have to play my brother last.
Game 4: vs Josh Springer, Blood Oath armada
I built his deck and I should know enough to just go after my missions
and wait for him to get stopped on my dilemmas so he's vulnerable, but
I play stupidly and go fight him in the AQ. I know he has a Tox Uthat/Supernova/Q's
Planet in the tent also, and I don't want to get hit by that :-).
I blow up one of his outposts and a few of his ships, but he just plays
Data, Keep Dealing and downloads them again with Blood Oath. I score
10 points for harvesting one of his people, he scores 45 for solving A
Good Day To Live, and we time out. 0 (-35), 6 (+220)
Well, even if my Ferengi opponent has won his other 3 games 100-0 he
couldn't pass 6 (+215), so that puts me in first and I collect a Lack of
Preparation foil. I told him I won't play armada next time if he
doesn't play Ferengi; I may have to put in a few ways to deal with nors
anyway, though. :-) Saturday I'm running a semi-free sealed deck;
let's hope we can get our 3rd sanctioned tourny in a row..
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