Starfleet Week: Top 5 cards

by James "RedDwarf" Hoskin, Staff Writer

8th July 2008

I have something of a chequered history with Starfleet decks. I have faced them many times, and I have even gotten around to building my own decks and having test games, but I have never felt the urge to play one at a big tournament. It probably goes back to my dislike of mission-solver decks, but I can't deny that many other players seem to like playing them. I just look at the small decklists and think that a good ol' battle deck will tear them apart. Then I start thinking that, if I play such a deck, then all of my opponents will choose that particular tournament to use their battle decks. Yes, I'm paranoid. Perhaps I should ask all players for a no battle pledge, so I could give them a try? Before moving onto the actual list, I would like to disclose my complete dislike for Tampering With Time. While I acknowledge that it is a viable strategy, I feel it is a cheap one, so I refuse to include it in this list. Here, in no particular order, are my Starfleet top five cards:

Columbia (The Second Warp Five Ship)
One of the immediate problems I notice when looking at Starfleet ships is that they have very low Range. I like to use ships with a minimum of eight Range, so that I can fly from my headquarters mission to a two-span planet mission and back again in a single turn. A ship with nine Range is even better because I can make a diversion to a three-span space mission if needed. The Columbia is the Starfleet ship most likely to be able to meet these requirements for me. As long as you have completed a space mission first and Erika Hernandez (Comparable Captain) is aboard, the Range is increased to the magic number of nine. The ship's second ability is also very useful when combined with Brennan Scott. He is attributes -1 for each card in your hand, but the ship lets you discard cards from hand while your personnel aboard are facing a dilemma. This means you can keep cards in your hand until the very last dilemma – just in case you might need an interrupt – before dumping the lot to pump-up Scott's attributes and complete the mission.

Kelby (Arrogant Engineer)
Kelby is included in this list because of the Range problem Starfleet ships have. It is hard enough to use a ship with only six Range, but if it succumbs to a Damage dilemma at a space mission, there is every chance that the ship will be stranded. Kelby solves this problem by being able to remove a Damage card with his ability. He also provides one of the three skills required by Investigate Alien Probe, which is the mission I usually see Starfleet decks trying to complete first.

A Sight for Sore Eyes
As if Starfleet didn't have enough of an advantage over most other affiliations with all of their cheap ships, this card can really give them a big early game advantage. All you need is three copies of this card – to get one into play – and three copies of At What Cost?, and it is possible to achieve up to 21 additional counters during your first few turns of the game. If your deck is small enough, and you draw the cards you need, it is even possible to draw through almost two thirds of it by your fourth turn. For as long as you have not completed a mission, I think this card is worth its weight in gold for the points it provides you. Once you have completed a mission, it becomes a liability if you ever want to spend points again, so I like nothing better than destroying it before the end of my turn. I'll keep those five points thank you very much!

Jeremiah Hayes (Diligent Major)
This card, released in These Are the Voyages, has appeared in virtually every Starfleet deck I have ever faced since. His cost, skills and attributes are all fairly ordinary, but his ability really stands out because he can join a mission attempt after it has started. This means you are cheating your opponent out of one extra dilemma they can draw and potentially use against you. Sure, there are some restrictions on when he can be used (he must start at a different mission than the one he is joining, you must have completed a space mission, a MACO must be facing a dilemma, and it must be a planet mission), but they are fairly trivial for a Starfleet deck. I find his ability complements that of Warp Speed Transfer so well, that using both in a deck can cause some nasty looks on the face of my opponent.

Phlox (Sadistic Physiologist)
Using "sadistic" to describe the mirror universe Phlox is something of an understatement. Much like the rest of his mirror universe colleagues (or potential victims), his ability only works when you have no cards in hand. When you do, you can force your opponent to kill one of his or her non-unique personnel every turn. In games where I have played this, I find my opponents either run out of non-unique personnel, or they decide to stop playing them. Either way, this one card has a huge impact on their game strategy. Other plus points for Phlox are that he is a '4 or more' personnel, and that he has a huge number of skills. Oh, and did I mention that he can force each of your opponents to kill a non-unique personnel every turn? Think of the multiplayer possibilities!

This week's honorable mentions extend the list by four cards. Sean Hawkins gets a mention for actively discouraging the use of killing dilemmas against any team he is a part of. Malcolm Reed (Weapons Expert) gets a mention because he is English, and he does something with dilemmas. Hoshi Sato (Uneasy Educator) has lots of skills for a two-cost personnel – just remember that she can't be used to overcome Cultural Differences, no matter what Vlad tells you. Completing this foursome is another member of the Enterprise bridge crew: Travis Mayweather (Space Boomer). I think I remember mentioning Starfleet having low Range ships? Travis can increase the Range on your Starfleet ship he is aboard by two - if the first mission you completed during the game was a space mission - to alleviate the problem a little.

Which cards would you pick in your Starfleet top five? Let us know on the message boards here.