Ten Steps to a Successful Deck

  1. Choose an affiliation based on the personnel, ships, and missions that you already own. Only choose the Federation if you particularly like getting your rear end kicked around the space line. I know it may be tempting to use Starfleet - they have great personell with a wide variety of skills, they include our heros, Picard & co., and they're humans - we identify with them! If you get the urge, simply stick your head in the nearest toilet and flush until the feeling passes. So why not Federation, you ask? A couple of good reasons: First, they cannot attack. A Decipher answer to that problem was 'Wartime Conditions,' a crappy card easily taken care of by good old Kevin Uxbridge. Besides, by the time you can use it, your opponent has already launched a crippling attack on you! Federation missions require too many skills. The best affiliation to use hands-down is Klingon. Besides attacking at will, you have a wide variety of skills. Your only problem there is lack of ENGINEER's. Just add more Kromms. You could use Romulans, but with so few unique personnel and an inability to attack other Romualans, why bother?

  2. Choose which missions you will use. The best thing to do is to choose all planet missions. The reasons for this strategy are simple. Your opponent will be using a variety of dilemmas, space and planet. Choosing all planet missions will reduce the amount of dillemmas you are forced to face. Using planets also lets you use artifacts and that event we all know and love, "Genetronic Replicators," which ensures your away team survival. Make sure to use missions which can be completed with only one or two personnel.
  3. STRATEGY! All successful decks have a definite strategy. There are many to follow, but all decks are basically either SPEED decks or QUALITY decks and either POINT decks or BATTLE decks.
    vs.

    SPEED DECKS are designed to get your cards in your hand and on the table fast! "The Traveller" as well as a few "Kivas Fajo"'s and probably a "Betazoid Gift Box" & other such cards.
    QUALITY DECKS do not afford space for such cards, but concentrate more on combos & hard hitting. They are slower, but when the right cards come up, they are more effective.

    POINT DECKS devote much of their content to skilled personnel, bonus point cards, colonies etc. Point decks will only have two or three ships, just to get around. Federation decks are good for these, but they're not much fun.

    vs.

    BATTLE DECKS devote their content to making their opponent SUFFER! They must be Romulan or preferably Klingon, and devote AT LEAST 10% of the deck to decent ships with good fire power. Personnel are just what is needed to man the ships comfortably, and attempt missions. The rest is committed to nasty cards to annhilate your opponent.

    The worst decks are Quality/Point decks. If your going for points, then you want to get them fast, or you're gonna get killed. The most lethal decks to face are Speed/Battle. Unfortuneately, they are the hardest to make.
    For comparison,     MY DECK is a Quality/ Battle deck.

  4. When it really gets down to the nitty - gritty, it's not what you know, it's WHO you know. Especially in a point deck, the people are the most important thing. Remember to have sufficient people with whom you can accomplish your missions, and have back - ups, in case your entire away team is killed, so that you can still get your points. Always stock a good amount of MEDICAL to use with "Genetronic Replicators". In case your opponent gets smart and uses "The Charybids", its a good idea to grab a couple of folks with 'Archeology' and stick 'em in there. This is real easy if you are playing Romulan. Besides that, "What people will I use?" is a rhetorical question. Just use your best.

  5. Equipment. Again, very simple. Use those under rated equipment cards to supplement your crew. For example, if you need more MEDICAL, use your kits. Another smart move is to pack tricorders & Engineering kits. Coupled with Metaphasic & Nutational Shields, these will come in handy. Very Simple.

  6. Ships. This is where the difference between good and crappy decks is exhibited. Basically, you will only use the best ships that you have. But, what ARE the best ships? For example, if you own the Edo Vessel, is that a good or bad ship to use? If you play a battle orientated deck, this is a good ship. It has great weapons and is 50% immune to attacks. If you play a point deck, the ship is not a good choice, simply because of incredibly low RANGE. You could add Plasmadyne Relays or Data's Head, but this then becomes a hassle to upkeep, its only true advantage being the 50% immunity to attacks. If you are playing Federation, you obviously can't lose with an Enterprise, likewise the Bortas for Klingons, and the Devoras for the Romulans. You could also get into those great alternate universe jobs like Future Enterprise, Fek'lhr, or Decius, but these can be a pain in the butt to man(especially Future Enterprise). Whatever you do, don't stack in a bunch of crappy ships, like Mirandas, K'vorts, or Scout Vessels, just 'cause they're super easy to man. Remember that they are also super easy for your opponent to annhilate.

  7. As far as dilemmas go, don't go too nuts. A few good combos are immensely better than half your deck thrown under your opponents missions in an ill manner. Try to get as many space&planet dilemmas as you can, and don't underestimate common dilemmas just because they are so. Ones like Thought Fire and Impassable Doorway can be very effective in the right combonations. See my Dilemma Combos.

  8. Artifacts. For goodness sake, don't go overboard with these guys! Decipher Tournament Rules v2 states that you may only keep one dilemma under each of your own planets. Do you know what means? It means that by the time you've grabbed your third artifact, you've also got your points and the game is over(unless you've got really crappy point missions). So by all means, don't bother playing with more than 3 artifacts, and make them good ones. My suggestion is to use: Tox Uthat, Horga'an, & Kurlan Naiskos.

  9. Choose you events & interrupts wisely. Only a few good ones are necessary, but here are a few MUSTS: The Traveller, Red alert, Res-Q, Palor Toff, a Temporal Rift, a Q2, an Amanda Rogers, and a Kevin Uxbridge. Other than that, play around and see what you like. Generally, you're going to want to use more interrupts than events if yuo're using a speed deck, and more events than interrupts if yo are using a quality deck. This is because interrupts are fast and designed to trip up your opponent, while events are slower, but pack a punch. Combos will fine tone your array of events and interrupts. See my combo list.

  10. Customize your deck. This might sound crazy, but it works. Once you've created your deck, take all of your extra cardsand make a seperate deck with your leftovers, about twice the size of your playing deck, ignoring affiliation restrictions. Play the two decks against each other, favoring neither. Your playing deck should win, but this is to see how it holds up, what are its strengths and its vulnerabilities.
    Play around and remember to try different things. Here's an idea from a page called "STTNGCCG": Make a klingon deck with 20 staff or command ability klingons and 20 K'Vort class starships. Throw in a few of your best interrupts and events, and go to it. An almost unbeatable attack deck. How about a Federation deck with no ships? Grab about 30 personnel with Music, a Ressican Flute, and a couple of Q-nets. Seed the Flute under a low point, easy mission, and block yourself off from attack with the Q-nets. This would have to be a speed deck to pull off. Try your own ideas. Even if they seem weird at first, don't dismiss them.

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