For posting deck designs for feedback from other players and members of the community.
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 - Delta Quadrant
 -  
Continuing Committee Member - Retired
#1171
What You Leave Behind contains a dozen new missions. Kevin Jaeger takes a look at his new favorite mission and argues that maybe it's not what you leave behind…

…It's What You Commandeer

Kevin Jaeger

Months ago, I visited decipher.com and came to discover that a collection of cards from What You Leave Behind had been posted. One of those cards immediately caught my eye. That card was Commandeer Prototype.

My mind immediately began to race with a list of possibilities. I could download the Phoenix (Risen From the Ashes) directly to a mission and force my opponent to score ten more points to win. I could use the Baraka with the Romulans and put those extra points they generate to good use. I could download Quark’s Treasure (Sabotaged Shuttle), played with Khan Noonien Singh (Bold Man) to become its corresponding Commander, and potentially take that game-winning extra turn in the clutch! That’s straight cash, homey! However, the combination that really stuck in my mind was to use Commandeer Prototype to download the Alpha Quadrant’s most stolen ship, the U.S.S. Defiant (Commandeered Warship). Not only does its subtitle make it the perfect choice, but so does its game text.

In Second Edition, the front lines are the missions you attempt and the ground you take is often measured in the dilemmas put under those missions. The Defiant has been taking ground in glorious service of the Founders for years now. With Commandeer Prototype, the Romulans, Klingons, Ferengi and Cardassians can join in the fun!

Now that What You Leave Behind has been released, the first deck I’ve put together centers on this powerful new mission and that tough little ship. The strategy is simple. Complete Commandeer Prototype, download the Defiant, start moving dilemmas to either Eliminate Sphere Network or Restore Errant Moon (depending on your skills in play), complete that mission, and finally move dilemmas to the mission you left for last. Of course, the Defiant is only any good to you if it’s actually in the deck to be downloaded. If you drew it into your hand before completing Commandeer Prototype, These Are The Voyages is the answer to put the Defiant at the bottom of the deck, gain card drawing advantage, and possibly even dig for a card you need, like an early-game ship.

I chose to go with the Klingon affiliation and utilize another card that specializes in Commandeering - Kruge (Instinctive Commander). Kruge has all the skills necessary to complete the lower Cunning requirement, he has a command star to meet the Defiant’s staffing requirements, and he has Astrometrics, an important skill for overcoming space dilemmas. He can also contribute his Astrometrics for completing Restore Errant Moon. He gets a plethora of help from seven other different sources of Astrometrics necessary to make sure you can come up with three when you need them. Engineer is the next most important skill in the deck as it is necessary to complete two of your missions and staff the Defiant. To give the deck speed and dilemma-busting power, three copies of The Promise and Energize, and two copies of Stricken Dumb are included. Strength is by far the Klingons' greatest attribute, and this deck takes advantage of that by using two copies of Warrior’s Birthright to avoid using those Cunning requirements, and U.S.S. Enterprise-J to give a boost to completing the two 40-point missions whether or not you have Warrior’s Birthright at your disposal.

Rounding out the deck is a collection of personnel meant to give you help in various areas. Persis and Khan give you eight Cunning and Strength along with Engineer, the group of Past Klingons provides needed dilemma-busting skills (not to mention potential cost reductions for efficiency), Worf (The Strongest Heart) gives you help getting personnel past random stops while providing a use for any duplicate events in hand, and several personnel with 2 Diplomacy will help get you past Gomtuu Shockwave.

Finally, the unsung heroes of the deck are S’salk (Gorn Captain) and William T. Riker (Exchange Officer). While they don’t have Astrometrics or Engineer, they do have Leadership and Officer for mission skills. However, where they really contribute is with their game text. Riker really doesn’t need an introduction as he’s been banking skills to overcome dilemmas and complete missions for years. S’salk, though, is a hoss. The Defiant will be putting two or more dilemmas under a mission before your personnel attempt it, so at the least he’ll be attributes seven across. Put four under and he’s nine across. This will go a long way in helping you overcome a popular dilemma like Chula: The Dice (or any other dilemma with an attribute requirement).

Speaking of dilemmas, now that the deck is together, let's discuss the dilemma pile. The Defiant is going to need time to help you get through your missions, so you’ll need a pile that’s going to effectively slow down and stop your opponent. What You Leave Behind has some efficient new dilemmas that will certainly help you. Moral Choice will either stop one person for cost two or it will stop three people if one is Federation. For cost four, Chula: The Chandra will either stop two or it will stop three or more. A lot of decks these days are packing high-cost personnel to use with These Are The Voyages or against The Dal’Rok. Select that person with The Chandra and you could potentially stop the entire mission team or at least stop enough to cause your opponent to fail the attempt. Old Differences offers another efficient means of slowing your opponent down. Two stops that will either cost three at a lower-point mission your opponent is most likely attempting with fewer people, or two stops for cost four at a higher-point mission that he or she will need more personnel to complete with. Now that you have your means to slow your opponent down, let's talk about ways of stopping him or her and buying more turns. Gomtuu Shockwave will work well with Moral Choice and chances are an opponent will lose a turn repairing the damage. Rogue Borg Ambush continues to provide either difficult attribute requirements or a difficult skill requirement. Where No One Has Gone Before will send your opponent to the far reaches of space and buy you two turns. Lastly, Outclassed will most likely "one drop stop" a fast-moving opponent trying to use a cheap, low-attribute ship.

Now you have a deck that will remind you that it’s not what you leave behind…it’s what you commandeer!

Missions
Commandeer Prototype
Eliminate Sphere Network
Historical Research
Qo’noS (Heart of the Empire)
Restore Errant Moon

Draw Deck (44)
Events
3 Energize
3 These Are The Voyages
3 U.S.S. Enterprise-J
2 Warrior’s Birthright

Interrupts
2 Stricken Dumb
3 The Promise

Personnel-Klingon Affiliation
1 Alexander Rozhenko (K’mtar)
1 Chang (Gorkon’s Chief of Staff)
1 Drex (Arrogant Warrior)
1 Gorkon (Visionary Chancellor)
1 Jadzia Dax (The Second Heart)
1 Khod (Conniving Captain)
1 Koloth (D’akturak)
1 Konmel (Renegade Warrior)
2 Korax (Instigator)
2 Kruge (Instinctive Commander)
1 Mara (Science Officer)
1 Meraht
1 Morka (Klingon Intelligence Agent)
1 Vorax
1 William T. Riker (Exchange Officer)
1 Worf (The Strongest Heart)

Personnel-Non-Aligned
1 Julian Bashir (Rebel Captain)
1 Khan Noonien Singh (Bold Man)
1 Persis (Loyal Daughter)
1 S’salk (Gorn Captain)

Ships
2 I.K.S. K’Vort
1 I.K.S. Kla’Diyus (Prototype)
1 I.K.S. Qel’Poh (Clandestine Vessel)
2 U.S.S. Defiant (Commandeered Warship)

Dilemma Pile (30):
Planet
1 Aftereffects
1 Assassination Attempt
1 Excalbian Drama
1 Gangster's Welcome
1 Rogue Borg Ambush

Space
1 Fesarius Bluff
2 Gomtuu Shock Wave
1 Outclassed
2 Personal Duty
1 Preventative Repercussion
1 Unbelievable Emergency
1 Where No One Has Gone Before

Dual
1 Agonizing Encounter
2 An Issue of Trust
1 Chula: The Chandra
1 Dignitaries and Witnesses
1 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
2 Hard Time
2 Moral Choice
1 Old Differences
1 Shocking Betrayal
1 Temptation
2 The Caretaker’s “Guests”
1 The Dal’Rok

Have a comment about this article? Post your opinions below!
Last edited by Andreas Colter on Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:15 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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 - Gamma Quadrant
 -  
Continuing Committee Member - Retired
#1417
Lieutenant-Telak wrote:Hi Kevin,
verry good and interesting article!
Is it ok for you when I post this article under your name on openCards?
Go ahead. Please use both my name and handle.
Last edited by Hoss-Drone on Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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 - Alpha Quadrant
 -  
#1530
Hoss-Drone wrote:
Lieutenant-Telak wrote:Hi Kevin,
verry good and interesting article!
Is it ok for you when I post this article under your name on openCards?
Go ahead. Please use both my name and handle.
You can see the result under:
http://www.open-cards.com/st2e/build/de ... Hoss-Drone

Thanks and greetings...
Last edited by Lieutenant-Telak on Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 - Beta Quadrant
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#1898
Nice deck, and especially, nice write-up. This deck is kinda fun to look at because it combines a number of different modules that I'm used to using in isolation (past Klingons are some of my favorite dudes around these days) in some of my decks used here in combination. That always takes a bit of a balancing act which you seem to have pulled off nicely. Very nice.
Last edited by CFHollister on Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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First Edition Art Manager
By jjh (Johnny Holeva)
 - First Edition Art Manager
 -  
#4579
"Old School Klingons"
by Johnny Holeva
Deck Idea by Kevin Jaeger
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=145

Hey folks,
I decided to take the idea behind Kevin's terrific deck article, adjust it for my play style (I like big decks and redundancy), and take it to the most recent tournament here in San Diego, California. It was a blast! I've included my deck list below.

I went 4 - 1 on the day and every game was really cool using the old school Klingons to get around dilemmas and solve missions. Mara is flat out one of the most under-used Power Cards in the game. Her ability is scary good and I'm glad more people don't stock her in Klingon decks. This deck was the first time I was able to use Chang, Gorkon, and Enterprise-J from WYLB and I was impressed with all three.

My closest match came against Matt Kirk and his fiesty Maquis. Best I could tell, it was the same deck he used in his online match-up. Our game was really good and I scratched and clawed to get a second ship out to facilitate getting back and forth to my HQ. Unfortunately for me, Matt did a superb job bogging down my card draws and earned the win.

Bottomline - I'd recommend Kevin's deck build to anyone who wants to utilize old school Klingons with the Commandeered Defiant.



Saturday, February 9th, 2008 SPATIAL RIFTS 04
Arby's in Clairemont, CA

4 Wins - 1 Loss
2nd out of 7

Game One Full Win 100 - 40 vs. STF (Thomas K.)
Game Two Full Win 100 - 0 vs. BORG (Dan)
Game Three Full Loss 60 - 100 vs. MAQ (Matt)
Game Four Full Win 100 - 40 vs. STF (Franklin)
Game Five Full Win 100 - 0 vs. TNG (Thomas V.)


MISSIONS
Qo'nos, Heart of the Empire (HQ)
Brute Force
Deliver Ancient Artifact
Eliminate Sphere Network
Commandeer Prototype


Draw Deck (75 cards)

PERSONNEL (41)

PERSONNEL - KLINGON (33)
3 Chang, Gorkon's Chief of Staff
2 Gorkon, Visionary Chancellor
2 Kahmis
3 Kang, Vigilant Commander
2 Khod, Conniving Captain
3 Koloth, Ingratiating Captain
2 Kor, Courageous Governor
3 Korax, Instigator
3 Kruge, Instinctive Commander
3 Mara, Science Officer
2 Ro'suv
2 Vorax
2 William T. Riker, Exchange Officer
1 Worf, Son of Mogh

PERSONNEL - NON-ALIGNED (8)
3 Julian Bashir, Rebel Captain
1 Persis, Loyal Daughter
1 S'salk, Gorn Captain
3 Tolian Soran, Renegade Scientist


EVENTS (20)
3 At What Cost?
3 Energize
2 Machinations
3 Optimism
3 Order of the Bat'leth
3 These Are The Voyages
3 U.S.S. Enterprise-J


INTERRUPTS (4)
1 Fitting In
1 Stricken Dumb
2 The Promise


SHIPS (10)
1 I.K.S. Bortas
1 I.K.S. Hegh'ta
1 I.K.S. Maht-H'a
1 I.K.S. Qel'Poh, Clandestine Vessel
3 I.K.S. Vor'cha
3 U.S.S. Defiant, Commandeered Warship




DILEMMA PILE (59 cards)

PLANET (8)
1 Aftereffects
3 Excalbian Drama
1 Necessary Execution
1 Outmatched
1 Picking Up the Pieces
1 Rogue Borg Ambush

DUAL (40)
3 An Issue of Trust
2 Agonizing Encounter
2 Back Room Dealings
1 Bre'Nan Ritual
1 Chula: Echos
1 Chula: Pick One to Save Two
3 Chula: The Chandra
3 Chula: The Dice
2 Dressing Down
1 Full Security Alert
2 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
3 Hard Time
2 Inferiority
1 Moral Choice
1 Old Differences
2 Pinned Down
3 Psychokinetic Control
2 Racial Tension
2 Stripped Down
1 The Dal'Rok
2 Timescape

SPACE (11)
3 Fesarius Bluff
1 Gomtuu Shock Wave
2 Outclassed
1 Personal Duty
1 Preventative Repercussions
3 Where No One Has Gone Before
Last edited by jjh on Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Second Edition Design Manager
By The Guardian (Richard New)
 - Second Edition Design Manager
 -  
2E North American Continental Quarter-Finalist 2023
#4618
I haven't upgraded by Classic Klingon deck from last year's worlds, but I am looking forward to it with the new personnel. I liked them because they allowed me to run a combat and engagement deck as they have the Strength and Kruge available. The new ships should help out with the engagements too. And you're absolutely right about Mara. She can be really awesome.
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