DOWN
Confessions of a Vic-aholic. /txt ... Unimatrix Zero One ... 01.26-17:42
Hi, my name is Chris and I've been abusing Vic Fontaine for the last five weeks. I've played in one sanctioned tournament in that time and in one unsanctioned round-robin gaming night. I played two mission solving decks that used Vic to pull down loads of cards. One deck relied on a Vic download to get out Q's Tent first turn, then hitting 3 dilemmas there for more downloads. The other simply self-seeded three dilemmas that I wanted to hit first turn.

Personally, I am not at this time in favor of an errata or magic bullet against Vic. I would imagine that Vic's ability to download cards was tested extensively before the card was actually printed, and that Decipher's PD team made a conscious decision to issue him as is. Perhaps they thought that Computer Crash, Brain Drain, Small Oversight, etc. were sufficient counters to Vic. For all we know, Vic's special skill may have been even more powerful earlier in the design process. My point is that it's not as if PD didn't know how powerful Vic would be when they printed the card. Vic has been in circulation for all of four weeks. Maybe the defenses against Vic just haven't been fully explored yet.

I say all of the above as someone who has yet to lose a game, and who has yet to take more than six turns to win a game, since incorporating Vic (ab)use as a major theme of his decks. So, I guess maybe I am one of the "bad guys" here. Anyway, that's the perspective. Now on to the specifics ...

>1. Seed a Q-Ref- Suspend Play while you bring out "In The Zone" now any points opponent gets over 50 in one turn don't count towards winning.

I plan my Vic-aholic decks with In the Zone in mind. Actually, in the decks I've used thus far, it's been hard for me to score 50 points in a single turn (mostly because of used-up ship RANGE). That's why I go for a Horga'hn early. My first Vic deck won in 4-6 turns, with ITZ on the table, without a Horga'hn. My second Vic deck won in 3-5 turns, with 1-2 Horga'hn turns per game. My opponents got 1-3 turns each. I assumed In the Zone and planned for it ... and didn't see it once.

Actually Containment Field is an overlooked anti-Vic card. The most radical Vic abuses are also [SD] abuses. My opponents last Thursday could've really shot me in the foot with Containment Field. They could've actually made competitive games out of it.

>2a. Seed Lack of Preparation- So opponent brings an away team/crew with only one or two or three people. He's lost Ten points.

With Lack of Preparation in the metagame, who's going to attempt without requirements? This is why I don't play Cardassian -- too many of their missions have high attribute requirements that make it hard to satisfy LoP and still keep the crew/AT small enough that a mass killer like Denevan Neural Parasites doesn't hurt too bad.

>2b. Also use Q-Ref to Get out Villagers With Torches. Now he's lost 10 points and his Team/Crew is dead.

Same answer as to Lack of Preparation. I never attempt a planet mission with fewer than three personnel in the attempt. Why on earth would anyone take the risk (unless they see that their opponent has no hidden agendas and no face-up QtRs on the table)?

>3. Play a Ready Room Door to get Mission Debriefing. Vic isn't universal. Now he's stopped. Stopped people can't use their skills of any kind.

First of all, you can't play RRD during my turn. Second, being universal, of course, has nothing to do with Mission Debriefing whatsoever. Third, you are just plain wrong about what "stopped" people can and can't do. You need to carefully read the Glossary entry on "stopped," but I will quote part of it here for you:
Cards that are “stopped” may not be beamed, move, walk, cloak, phase, participate in a battle, staff a ship, or participate in a mission, commandeering, or scouting attempt. ... Cards that are “stopped” may perform other actions and use skills as appropriate.
There's nothing to stop Vic from downloading a card just because he's stopped.

>4. Seed dilemma's that target Holograms - Strict Dress Code comes to mind from First Contact. There are a number of them from the Holodeck Adventures Set that Vic himself is a part of.

True, and not a bad idea if your opponents are fond of holograms, but (a) Vic strategies often rely on early encounters of self-seeded dilemmas, and (b) Holodeck Door played from hand can prevent the deactivation of any hologram. Also, Vic doesn't have to be in the team attempting, only at the same spaceline location.

>5. Seed Scout Encounter (also FC) with Extradition (DS9) and download a Flaxian Scout Vessel. Bring Krozh x2 with you...Steal Vic. (Is this Legal?)
>Vic would deactivate because the scout vessel doesn't have a Holodeck but that doesn't matter because at least your opponent doesn't have Vic anymore and you can play a Holodeck door the scout vessel. Then just Brainwash him.

That might work (see the "Dilemmas" subsection in the CR entry on holograms), but cf. 4 above.

>6. Can his Special Skill be overwritten with Reflection Therapy or any of those dilemma's that take away the "First listed skill"?

To overwrite Vic's skill with Reflection Therapy, you would have to have more Treachery than Honor present with him. You can't just play it from hand on my Vic. Ditto Frame of Mind etc.


>Like I said maybe I missed something in the card that makes it more powerful than a speeding locomotive....
>
>Thoughts????
>
>
>


UCC: Slik Vic Trix (tm)

RESPOND TO THE ABOVE

NAVIGATOR
TM & © 1996-2001 Decipher Inc. All Rights Reserved. TERMS AND USAGE TOP  |  MAP