I Know Why "The Cage" Plants Sing

by Matthew Zinno, Staff Writer

28th June 2019

This new Cage set looks great.  I want to build a new deck.  What do I like?   

This new doorway Preserver Obelisk looks good.  I can seed it for two people -- like AMS, but better people.  And no, I can't stack both of them in the seed phase.  I can also play more copies of the Obelisk later, for more personnel downloads.  That's only one person per turn due to the downloading rule (AMS would get two, but again, they only have one skill), but it doesn't take my card play.  So let's load this deck up on Obelisk "native" people.  Who?  Well, they have to come along with their corresponding mission. 

Janus VI comes with two natives (Giotto and Vanderberg), so let's use those.   And Talos IV comes with 3 natives (The Keeper, Jose Tyler, and Yeoman Colt), so those also.  That will mean General Order 7 to attempt it.

Also in the new set are some cards that seem essential to try out for a brand-new Cage build.  The Final Frontier gives me two free plays.  Also some limitations, which will shape what we build.  No time location reporting, OK so Sherman's Peak and K-7 will not be helpful.  No Crossover, so no people reporting to my AQ outpost.  That's okay, there are plenty of AQ people to choose from now.

Back to the new cards, Five Year Mission and Recreation Room give me draws and hand management.  To Boldly Go gives me a range boost for those out-of-date Constitution-class ships.  And Risk is Our Business gives me each-mission downloads of Prepare Landing Party, which in turn gives me each-mission downloads of equipment or universal SECURITY personnel.  Let's put all of them in -- and since those downloads go to the away team, I can actually lean on the personnel here too.  SECURITY for and … that's the reliable Lt. Grant, and also the Ensigns Davis and Gaffney and Kjolholm, plus the new Tyler and Tepo.  For now at least, let's throw 'em all in and see what we get.  Oh, and Prepare Landing Party gives us another new deckbuilding restriction: all our personnel need to be .  Again, we can live with that.

We've chosen a few personnel based on connections with some of our cards -- now let's get some who are just good in their own ways.  The new Captain Kirk is a skill beast, and so is the original Mr. Spock.  Almost as dense are Christopher Pike and Number One.  I'm going to throw in Commodore Decker, because he's my card and also has three personnel types.  And of course, Dr. McCoy for dilemma-busting versatility.

Looking again at Prepare Landing Party, it gets better when you have unique personnel with many different classifications.  Let's try to have at least two of everything.  (Alas, ANIMAL isn't an option since we've restricted this deck to .)  We already have OFFICERs and SECURITY.  For ENGINEER, I'll take the TWT version of Mr. Scott, who also comes with a ship boost and an equipment download.  That's one; my second will be Ensign O'Brien, with another equipment download.  He won't be a free play via The Final Frontier since he's not … but not everyone needs to be.  We have McCoy for one MEDICAL; the second will be Nurse Chapel: besides her good skills, she can be an extra free report.  (Plus, it's fun to put her next to Number One.)  We have Spock for SCIENCE; the second will be the new junior Lt. Sulu, again with an equipment download.

That leaves VIP and CIVILIAN.  I'll use Vina for her skill versatility, and Nilz Baris with his dilemma-escaping download.  (That should probably be fixed, but while it hasn't been, I'll use it.)  Miramanee has good skills, and can be another native if I use her mission.  And another VIP … Daystrom or Stone?  I think I've got plenty of Leadership, and I could use more Computer Skill, so Daystrom it is.

Mission check.  We need Janus VI and Talos IV for their natives -- and Amerind as well.  Memory Alpha has no natives, but gets better with more classifications, an area we already chose to diversify for Prepare Landing Party.  That's four planets, so no more room even for Sherman's Planet (which would have made Nilz Baris a native … but it's 30 points, and 35 is more).  Okay, now space missions. Looking over the skills I have, Repair Mission goes well with my large amounts of ENGINEER, and Navigate Argolis Cluster goes with my OFFICER/Leadership/SECURITY.

Any skill gaps?  It looks like I'm lighter than I'd like on Diplomacy and Anthropology for mission skills, and MEDICAL, Navigation, and Transporter Skill for dilemma expectations.  I see three of these on Lt. Bailey, so we'll add him.  For MEDICAL, I could just choose to rely on Communicators and Classic Medical Tricorders, but to be safe I'll add Lt. Bashir (and his equipment download).  And for Transporter Skill, I see an interesting opportunity on Ensign Chagwiza, who even without Crossover can safely download via Assign Support Personnel.  For that matter, we can similarly add Farrell with I'm a Doctor, Not a Bricklayer, and James Tiberius Kirk with Going to the Top.

And there's a lot of our deck done.  Throw in some other supporting verbs you like, and your preferred style of dilemmas, and engage!

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
• Warp Speed

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

• Federation Player
• Three Stops Me
• Highlander
• The Cage Release
• The Cage

Hide Deck Stats

Dilemmas
Total Dilemmas		18
[P]		5 (28%)
[S/P]		7 (39%)
[S]		6 (33%)

Draw Deck
Total Draw Deck		34
Doorway		2 (6%)
Equipment		2 (6%)
Interrupt		2 (6%)
Objective		3 (9%)
Personnel		23 (68%)
Ship		2 (6%)

Seed Deck
Total Seed Deck		30
Dilemma		18 (60%)
Doorway		3 (10%)
Event		4 (13%)
Facility		1 (3%)
Incident		2 (7%)
Objective		2 (7%)

Q-Tent Side Deck
Total Q-Tent Side Deck		13
Equipment		4 (31%)
Event		1 (8%)
Interrupt		1 (8%)
Objective		1 (8%)
Personnel		6 (46%)

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

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

Traits
Card group
Captains Order		1
Capturing-related card		1
Dilemma group
Empok Nor-related dilemma		1
male-related dilemma		2
MEDICAL-related dilemma		5
SCIENCE-related dilemma		1
Equipment group
ENGINEER-related equipment		1
hand weapon		1
MEDICAL-related equipment		1
phaser		1
SCIENCE-related equipment		2
Mission region
Argolis Cluster Region		1
Mission trait
23rd century-related mission		4
Array mission		1
Personnel gender
Female		5
Male		24
Personnel group
Christopher Pike-related		7
Personnel trait
any Scotty		1
Bodyguard		1
Captain		3
Mission Specialist		1
Nurse		1
Priest		1
Slave Girl		1
Support Personnel		2
Thief		1
Ship equipment
Tractor Beam		2
Ship trait
Federation ship		2

Icons
Era
		37
Faction
		6
Quadrant
		6
Special
		1
		1
		1
		37
		1
Staffing
		8
		15