Drain 'em dry

by Allen Gould, Maquis Assistant Designer

23rd June 2014

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of interactive decks. It's not a popular strategy (because “go really fast and ignore your opponent” is a proven way to win, and my decks are certainly proven to… do something that is not winning), but there’s just something about those moments when you watch an opponent’s well-oiled machine grind to a halt that brings joy to my heart.

Today’s card lets us throw some monkey wrenches, by turning our mission solvers into little messengers of doom to our opponents. First off – this is a trick for Maquis, TNG Romulans, and DS9 Cardassians. In addition to the Maquis theme of guerilla warfare, it also fits nicely with affiliations whose goals also include hobbling the opponent as part of their overall plans.

The cost is pretty light - one card play (or less for Maquis via Ro Laren). Put them on your personnel with all the mission skills, and it converts them into a kind of mission specialist - except that instead of giving you a few points, it delivers pain to your enemies.

What pain, you ask?

That's the best part – you get a choice of three different effects, and you don't have to decide until the moment you solve the mission. Option one is to look at your opponent's hand (revealing their secrets to your spies), and then sabotage them by choosing two cards to discard. Option two takes three cards randomly and stuffs them on top of their deck - nice if they're doing a lot of discard pile recursion or probe rigging. Option three is for the cases where they don't have a hand (or you don't care what they have) - just shotgun four cards off the top of their deck to discard. But no matter what state the game is in, you should be able to make your opponent wince every time you solve a mission.

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