The bit before the first bit... (AKA The Prelude Bit)

The OTSD - Official Tournament Sealed Deck - was a wonderful idea. OTSD began way back when you could count the number of strategy card games on one hand. It was created as a way of challenging the best deck constructors to be dynamic strategists (good at the game as well as deck building), and able to improvise given mediocre conditions (good at changing strategies at a moments notice).

For the OTSD (Official Tournament Sealed Deck) beginners - and that includes me - it gives us a chance to get new cards, and have fun knowing that everybody is in the same boat, building, or lawn, depending on the venue. Oh, and there's nothing quite like unwrapping that blue box to find the cards; then, unwrapping packets to discover the ways of winning - or just having fun.

Having fun is great, however there are some of us that want to be competitive as well, which is just as great. Unfortunately, we face the same hurdle here as we do in the Swiss/Constructor tournaments: how do the uninitiated (new people) get through the first few rounds with more wins than loses (against the not so new people)?
 

The first bit, middle bit, and end bit... (AKA The Interesting Bit)

In similar efforts to the Swiss tournament, the OTSD (Official Tournament... you know the rest!) has a couple of not so obvious strategies that can be played with any deck. By taking the time to learn these strategies, the OTSD (not a chance!) newcomer will be better able to defend him/her/them/it-self from potential 5-minute 100-nill demolitions. After these strategies, however, come the 'luck of the draw/know your cards' plans that only surface with experience.

With that in mind, let's take a look at three or four ways of the OTSD (OTSD):

1) No Regrets... The OTSD has a great benefit: you can rebuild your deck after each round. This means that if you find your deck beaten early on in the tournament, you can analyze the deck, and perhaps add vital cards, or remove cards that are redundant. This may mean additional skills are required, or more ships, or interrupts and events to slow the game down. Don't be afraid to experiment, try new strategies, or a different affiliation. Be creative with the resources you have, and you may find yourself playing better because of it!

2) No Tears... I am relatively new to OTSD (OTSD), but I am not new to Swiss tournaments. That means that I know my cards, and I know how to use them... most of the time. I also know the rules of the Star Trek CCG. One rule I am very familiar with is the rule about dilemma misseeding. In short: I have a moral problem with people who misseed dilemmas in Swiss tournaments. Dilemma misseeding is the rule that states that any dilemma that is placed under a mission of different category - space and planet - is discarded. Misseeding doesn't only involve placing incorrect dilemmas - why not just put an outpost, or a character? Then you can go to those missions, thief the mission - which has no legal dilemmas - and score the points. In the OTSD however, misseeding has a more 'legitimate' purpose: you may only pull 12 or 13 dilemmas from your packs, and rather than only seeding two or maybe three cards under each mission, bulk up the appearance of the mission difficulty by adding misseeded cards. This may buy you extra turns, as the opponent may decide to wait for more personnel before attempting the mission. In those turns, you may have the time to turn the game around, or even win! The second strategy is to place the real dilemmas under the missions that will more likely be attempted by your opponent. This way, the opponent's forces may be decimated before they can get to the misseeded missions. Finally, the cunning thief may place misseeds under nearby missions for early mission points.

3) No Anxieties... The OTSD captures a golden age in Star Trek CCG game play: no Ore Processing at Nors, no side decks, no shape-shifting or infiltration, and no Borg Cubes as far as the eye can see (unless you are really unlucky...). The OTSD is all about missions, and overcoming dilemmas through good old-fashioned skill and timing. This should mean two things to the beginner: get the personnel onto ships, and get cracking on missions! Remember the misseeds - try sending a disposable (red-shirt) personnel on a mission: you may be able to overcome one or two dilemmas without risking any vital skills. You may even uncover a set of misseeds, and be able to finish the mission that turn!

4) Just Go Forward in All Your Beliefs... Finally, don't be afraid to play your own game. The famous triptych (set of three) of Kevin, Amanda, and Q2 won't be popping up as often, so throw in a few events and interrupts that might normally be ignored. Remember the Space Door for a quick ship AND then to play off the opposition Red Alert card, the Space/Time Portal to get it back, and don't forget the Open Diplomatic Relations objective can resurrect a Devil'd treaty!
 

The end bit... (AKA The End Bit)

With these small pieces of knowledge the beginner can go into an OTSD with a little more information about the style of game play (and the cultured can have a round of applause for understanding my rambling about beliefs, tears, and stuff). Have no fear: if you skipped the middle bit, you will still learn everything above after a round or two at your local OTSD tournament. For the competitive though, this above information may make the difference between first place and seventh place. I should know - it did for me (put me in seventh instead of first, that is).

Greg "Cabes" Askew
gmask1@bigpond.com