Beyond the Final Frontier

by Niall Matthew, Staff Writer

30th November 2013

It all began with the release of The Next Generation expansion, when certain seed cards gave all you delightful chaps the intricate ability to look though one's binder and utilise redundant cards to maximum effect. With the latest First Edition expansion, Emissary, players from all over the globe will revisit that spiffing experience once again by pulling out the bridge crew from Deep Space Nine and playing them for free all over the spaceline. One of the primary play engines is Here by Invitation and gives the DS9 posse the game flavour they have been screaming for since 1998.

Let's look at the above play engine. Firstly, it allows you to download the Federation/Bajoran treaty, saving you a valuable seed slot and allowing the likes of Kira Nerys and Benjamin Sisko to work together. Next up is the reporting function. Any Bajoran or Federation personnel with 'Deep Space 9' in lore may report directly to the U.S.S. Defiant or to the appropriate site on Deep Space Nine. One thing I would like to point out is that this also includes personnel with 'DS9' in lore, so all you naughty people on the forums having reservations about this should note that it increases the pool of free reports, which is never a bad thing. As stated above, when reporting to DS9 you need to be aware of which sites you start off with (you only get to seed six for free remember).

The next part of the card is a new term known as 'Station Commander'. It's essentially the same as having a matching commander on a ship, but instead, it's the matching commander of a station. So far, we have two matching commanders for Deep Space Nine; Benjamin Sisko and Colonel Kira. They don't get the benefit of Captain's Log, but if they're at Commanders Office they can download an Objective once per game. You can download anything from Rescue Personnel to Establish Tractor Lock, but the main incentive to use this ability is to venture to the Gamma Quadrant.

And a brief say on the final part of this card: The notorious Bajoran Resistance Cell can pretty much be combined with any non-property logo deck. However, the makers of Emissary made the wise move of ensuring that the new deck types don't mix with it, so it will be refreshing to see Deep Space Nine related decks not using Bajoran Resistance Cell TBH.

Now let's look at another card that was spoiled earlier in the week: The First Stable Wormhole.

It's a very interesting card from the get-go as it's a Doorway and is seeded before the mission phase. The first part of the card allows you to download Bajoran Wormhole from outside the game, thus beginning the spaceline setup before any actual missions come into play. Bajoran Wormhole instantly creates a Bajor Region, therefore can provide some valuable mission placements both in the Gamma Quadrant and the Alpha Quadrant, ensuring that you control how you place your Bajor region and your remaining Gamma missions.

The next part of the card is the part you have all been waiting for: a way to travel to the Gamma Quadrant without that pesky 'stop' clause. All you need is to have Navigation and SCIENCE in your crew, have a Wormhole Navigation Schematic in your Q's Tent and have a spare card to discard from your hand then you are good to go.

The next part is my favourite part of the card. One of the main problems with the Gamma Quadrant is the high spans of the missions. While you have Reshape the Quadrant in play, all your Deep Space Nine related ships get to travel the Gamma Quadrant with each mission span reduced by 1. This now makes Intelligence Operation span 5 and Changeling Research a span of 1. You can almost hear the Future Enterprise being sick right now!

And if that wasn't enough to entice you into the Gamma Quadrant, how about a boost for two objectives that are gathering dust in your binders as you read this? Rescue Personnel and File Mission Report are now worth ten points each when combined with this Doorway. Where Deep Space Nine personnel lack in Mission Specialists, they more than make up for it with these upgraded Objectives.

Emissary indroduces a new Event, much like Let's See What's Out There. New Frontiers works with much the same mechanic but those extra two draws are yours if you have four Deep Space Nine personnel outwith their native Quadrant. This provides the opportunity for some very interesting set ups, and they need not be in the Gamma Quadrant.

Another cards I would like to talk about is T...

Oh, that would be awkward if I mentioned that one. It's included in the deck below (there is a very, very obscure hint somewhere) but it's best to wait for release day guys and gals :)

It's not just the seed cards which give you the unhinged desire to travel to the Gamma Quadrant, Emissary witnesses the return of our favourite station-dwelling main characters too, packed with new abilities. Among them so far are Benjamin Sisko, Julian Bashir, Miles O'Brien, and Melora Pazlar (the latter is fitting seeing that it is the 50th year of Doctor Who). Whilst in the Alpha Quadrant, these personnel are really nothing to write home about. But when you send them through the Wormhole they become unstoppable superhumans with added skills (and attributes for Julian Bashir) to bust through those pesky Dilemmas.

So, with all these shiny new toys to play with, what can you do?

- Report all 3 Non-Aligned Gamma Quadrant personnel to Host Tournament and download Rescue Personnel to pick them up later in the game.
- Construct the U.S.S. Defiant on Deep Space Nine while Benjamin Sisko oversees.
- Use the U.S.S. Defiant to venture back and forth through the wormhole multiple times in a single turn.
- Use File Mission Report for the first time in fifteen years.
- Make an almost competitive Gamma Quadrant only Dominion deck to breeze past your minus one span missions.
- Send the U.S.S. Odyssey to the Gamma quadrant to attempt missions, only to be thwarted by Jem'Hadar Attack Ships!
- Temporal Micro Wormhole Quark to your Deep Space Nine bridge crew and get the achievement.
- But will you need to use Temporal Micro Wormhole though...

It is time to Expand Your Power In The Universe!

Below is a basic deck constructed using some of the elements mentioned above.

It is a two mission win deck, avoiding point loss of course, by solving a planet mission (Alter Records via HQ: Secure Homeworld) in the Alpha Quadrant for 35 points, then journeying to the Gamma Quadrant to solve a space mission (TBR: To Be Revealed) for 35 and finally gaining 30 bonus points for the win.

There are two free reports each turn thanks to Here by Invitation (HBI) and Chamber of Ministers. These reporting mechanisms are based at the same location: Bajor. This can be combined with Strategema to protect your Nor from being commandeered. Just make sure you have more SECURITY or hand weapons when the moment is right.

File Mission Report and Explore Gamma Quadrant are seeded purely because I had the spare seed slots for them, plus it makes it easier to set up your Gamma solving should you encounter a Dead End at Bajor.

The sites have been chosen to accommodate most of the free reports with HBI. the Docking Ports site is there to report your Bajoran Freighter for free (perhaps there is a way to get it out first turn...) There are plenty of Defiants in the deck so once you have one out, download Paxton Reese via Assign Support Personnel to get the Navigation and SCIENCE you need to move through the wormhole without being 'stopped'.

Once you solve Bajor, the next move is solving the space mission in the Gamma Quadrant. Set up your two seeded Objectives for 15 points when you return. There is a self seeded Cytherians awaiting, so take advantage of the more manageable mission spans and get an easy 15 points. Send in the A-Team to solve the 35 point space mission, return to Deep Space Nine and gain the remaining 15 points through Explore Gamma Quadrant and File Mission Report for the win.

As for the draw engines, I have implemented the textbook 'Power/Mutation/Isomag/Handshake' maneuver. However there is a draw engine yet to be revealed. It's liable to cause some confusion initially, but it's one of the most innovative cards ever created, and is certainly required to keep this deck flowing with the cards you need to achieve victory in the Gamma Quadrant. As with J's recent Cardassian deck, I have put proxies in place of a few cards yet to be revealed.

And so ends our journey Beyond the Final Frontier. I'm looking forward to expanding the basic ideas of this deck and seeing what more I can come up with, and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what you all can conjure up from these lovely new cards.

Don't forget to donate - this ensures that we get more exciting sets like Emissary in the future.

See you all soon at an online or offline tournament guys and gals.
 

Discuss this article in this thread.

Decklist

This deck is legal in the following Card Pools:

• Complete

This deck is legal in the following Rules Sets:

• Open
• Revised
• Warp Speed

This deck is currently eligible for the following family or families of achievements:

• Bajoran Player
• Highlander
• Temporal Mechanics Give Me a Headache
• DS9 Player

Hide Deck Stats

Dilemmas
Total Dilemmas		19
[P]		3 (16%)
[S/P]		12 (63%)
[S]		4 (21%)

Draw Deck
Total Draw Deck		46
Doorway		2 (4%)
Event		4 (9%)
Incident		3 (7%)
Interrupt		6 (13%)
Personnel		27 (59%)
Ship		4 (9%)

Q-Tent Side Deck
Total Q-Tent Side Deck		13
Equipment		2 (15%)
Event		4 (31%)
Incident		1 (8%)
Interrupt		1 (8%)
Objective		1 (8%)
Personnel		2 (15%)
Ship		2 (15%)

Seed Deck
Total Seed Deck		30
Dilemma		19 (63%)
Doorway		2 (7%)
Facility		2 (7%)
Incident		3 (10%)
Objective		4 (13%)

Q the Referee Side Deck
Total Q the Referee Side Deck		13
Event		4 (31%)
Incident		6 (46%)
Interrupt		2 (15%)
Objective		1 (8%)

"Outside the Game" and/or Seed-Phase Downloads
Total "Outside the Game" and/or Seed-Phase Downloads		1
Doorway		1 (100%)

Skills
Acquisition		1
Anthropology		7
Archaeology		4
Astrophysics		3
Biology		5
CIVILIAN		2
Computer Skill		11
Cybernetics		0
Diplomacy		10
Empathy		0
ENGINEER		8
Exobiology		3
Geology		2
Greed		4
Honor		12
Law		2
Leadership		11
MEDICAL		6
Music		2
Navigation		8
OFFICER		4
Physics		4
SCIENCE		6
SECURITY		5
Smuggling		1
Stellar Cartography		3
Transporter Skill		3
Treachery		6
V.I.P.		8
Youth		0
Rare Skills
Barbering		0
Cantankerousness		0
Guramba		0
Mindmeld		0
Miracle Worker		1
Orion Syndicate		0
Resistance		1

Skill			On # Missions	Skill Dots	Classifications	Total
Acquisition				1		1
Anthropology				7		7
Archaeology				4		4
Astrophysics			1	3		3
Biology				5		5
CIVILIAN					2	2
Computer Skill			1	11		11
Cybernetics						0
Diplomacy			2	10		10
Empathy						0
ENGINEER			1	2	6	8
Exobiology				3		3
Geology				2		2
Greed			1	4		4
Honor			1	12		12
Law				2		2
Leadership			1	11		11
MEDICAL				3	3	6
Music				2		2
Navigation			1	8		8
OFFICER					4	4
Physics			2	4		4
SCIENCE			1	2	4	6
SECURITY			1	3	2	5
Smuggling				1		1
Stellar Cartography				3		3
Transporter Skill				3		3
Treachery			2	6		6
V.I.P.			1		8	8
Youth						0
Rare Skills
Barbering
Cantankerousness
Guramba
Mindmeld
Miracle Worker				1		1
Orion Syndicate
Resistance				1		1
Intelligence Skills
FCA
Intelligence
Klingon Intelligence
Memory Omega
Obsidian Order			1
Section 31
Tal Shiar
V'Shar
any Intelligence

Traits
Card group
Bajoran treaty		1
Captains Order		2
Capturing-related card		2
Federation treaty		1
Harvester Virus-related card		1
Dilemma group
Empok Nor-related dilemma		1
female-related dilemma		4
male-related dilemma		2
Equipment group
ENGINEER-related equipment		1
hand weapon		1
phaser		1
SCIENCE-related equipment		1
Mission region
Bajor Region		4
Mission trait
Homeworld		1
Personnel gender
Female		11
Male		18
Personnel group
Deep Space 9-related personnel		18
The Circle-related personnel		2
U.S.S. Enterprise-related personnel		1
Personnel trait
Assassin		1
Bartender		1
Cook		1
General		1
genetically enhanced		1
Kai		2
Minister		4
Prylar		1
Shakaar Resistance Cell		2
Shape-shifter		1
Support Personnel		8
Teacher		1
Trill with symbiont		1
Vedek		4
Ship equipment
Cloaking Device		3
Holodeck		1
Tractor Beam		6
Ship trait
Bajoran ship		1
Federation ship		5
ship trait
No staffing requirement		1
Ship trait
Scout		1

Icons
Faction
		1
Quadrant
		1
Special
		2
		1
		9
		5
		1
		12
		1
		1
Staffing
		9
		11