Playing First Edition Borg

by Niall Matthew, Inserter of Tubules

7th November 2017

Before we begin, let me warn you that there is no such thing as a basic Borg deck. Not only are they very download heavy, they also play differently too. But with a deck like the one below, you'll learn the basics in no time.

Before I explain the deck, lets run through what Charlie said in yesterdays article...

1) The Borg do not attempt missions. Instead, they scout missions via Borg Only Objectives. This is important for cards which specifically mention those terms, like Friendly Fire or Dead End

2) In order to score points, most Borg Objectives require the player to probe. That means the player peeks at the top cards of their deck, and if any icons match those on the Objective requirements, the Objective is complete. simples.

3) Bonus points. Borg ONLY score points through cards which have the Borg only icon.

4) Dilemmas. Borg ignore gender related Dilemmas and all requirements which specifically mention mission attempts. 

Right, that's the basics out of the way. Let's look at the deck below.

First, during the seed phase, seed the Transwarp Network Gateway closest to Earth. Your main play engine is They Will Be Coming, which allows you to play a universal personnel for free directly to your Cube.

 

Turn 1

Play the Shades of Grey Borg Queen.

Play a Borg drone for free.

Use the Queens special skill to download We Are The Borg for Seven of Nine and Two of Nine.

Download We Are the Borg again and place on table.

 

Turn 2

Persona swap the Queen

Use Seven of Nine to draw a card, then use the Borg Queen to convert that card draw into Three of Nine.

Play a Borg drone for free

 

This is the standard set up that most Borg players will use. The next step is now scouting missions. Establish Gateway is the Seeded objective. Though if you feel safer going for a planet first, then A Change Of Plans will easily sort that. Your aim is to complete three Objectives to win, with the final one being Assimilate Homeworld. Don't forget to download Resistance is Futile via Data of Borg for 100 points.

I've added some simple tricks to the deck so you can get used to some download chains which are more complex compared to a non Borg deck.

Construct Starship + Transwarp Hub: If Earth is too far away, download this facility to a Nebula to jump to the other side of the spaceline

Fifteen of Seventeen + Adapt: Allocate Resources + Alas: Poor Drone: A complex way of getting up to two additional card draws per turn. But later in the game, this combo is worth setting up.

I cannot stress enough how much I love Borg Scout Vessel! If your hand is full of Borg and you don't have any other means to get them out, then this ship will save the day.

Don't forget to flip Mission Debriefing to slow your opponents mission attempts. I've added ways to indirectly assimilate some of the opponents personnel.

 

So to conclude, this deck will give you everything you need to understand how the Borg work in an intermediate level. There are far more complex decks out there, like Stop First Contact, or a straight up assimilation deck where the players goal is to only assimilate the opponents personnel. 

 

They are a complex affiliation, but with patience and practice, they can be mastered by anyone.

Discuss this article in this thread.

Decklist

Print Decklist • Copy Deck

This deck is legal in the following Card Pools:

• Complete

This deck is legal in the following Rules Sets:

• Modern
• Open
• Revised
• Warp Speed

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

• Borg Player
• Good Casting: Armstrong (Two of Nine)
• Good Casting: Spiner (Data of Borg)
• Broken Bow Release

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