So, You're New to Khan?

by Maggie Geppert, Vice Chairman

4th September 2018

Nothing ever changes, except man. Your technical accomplishments? Improve a mechanical device and you may double productivity, but improve man and you gain a thousandfold. I am such a man.

                                                                                    - Khan from “Space Seed”

Khan decks are all about planetary conquests.  Today’s deck is from Al Schaefer (ltkettch17).  He’s been tearing it up locally with a variant of Nick Yankovic’s Khan decks.  He’s made a few mods and kept it up-to-date with the latest Khan tech, which is why I’ve put it in here over Nick’s decks.

Missions

The whole deck hinges on the use of Ceti Alpha V, Forge Settlement.  This mission downloads To Rule in Hell, which allows Genetically Enhanced personnel to report to it.  This event is protected by the mission and provides an alternative win condition for the deck (4 planet missions and 120 points).  However, I have never seen anyone make use of it.  The first thing you do is get off CAV, which you can do once you’ve completed the mission, gotten Joachim out and used his ability to get a ship.  The next planet you’ll go to is Regula, Exact Vengeance.  This mission was designed to help you do a three mission win with the next mission you complete.  It causes each mission with a span of 4 or more to be worth 5 more points.  Coincidentally, Genesis Planet has a span of 4.  When it is worth 5 more points, you’ll have 105 points after you complete it.  You can then spend 5 points to blow it up into a space mission for the full win.  The other two planets are here as a meta choice.  Metron Arena, Resolve Standing Conflict is here to protect your discard pile from Greasy Dukat.  If he removes your ship from the game before you can use Joachim, you’re hosed.  Gateway, Historical Research will help you out if you go 2^nd, allowing you to download Khan on your first turn. 

Draw Deck

Khan Noonien Singh, Superior Sleeper is the Khan of choice for this deck.  He has useful skills for Ceti Alpha V and Genesis Planet and all the skills for Regula.  He also downloads two cards of your choice.  One goes to hand (probably Joachim) and the other goes into the discard pile (a ship, in this case the Delta Flyer for its range of 10).  Other notable personnel include Udar, Smike, who can replace any Genetically Enhanced personnel when they are selected while he’s facing a dilemma.  As I mentioned in the Top 5 video this week, he absolutely wrecked my capture deck when last Al and I played.  Arik Soong, Father of Many is also fantastic, as he can prevent you from losing command of your Genetically Enhanced personnel.  This is important for an all-planet deck when dilemmas like Necessary Execution and Neural Parasites exist.

This deck also has some other important support cards.  This most recent version includes One Man Can Summon the Future.  There are so many 4-cost personnel, that this event can really help you get out the cards you need and leave the less desirable cards back in the deck.  Al told me that he likes to get out Surprise Party with Khan first turn if he doesn’t need to get out Joachim.  That extra counter from turn 1 is a great boost.  You can also use Waken Superior Sleeper to get out a Genetically Enhanced personnel.  Finally, the most recent Khan-related support card can be found here.  Moment of Triumph allows you to prevent or destroy your opponent’s events.  This card is great because you don’t need to feed Emergency Transport Units to Grav-Plating Traps any more.

Dilemma Pile

This is another pretty standard attrition pile, with some tailoring.  This deck tends to have a lot of events in core, so both Sylvia and Tsiolkovsky Infection are here to capture or kill your personnel here, respectively.  The big addition is Space Seed.  This massive 9-cost dilemma is one less counter for each Genetically Enhanced personnel your opponent commands, so in this deck it usually only costs 1 or 2, at most.  It has incredibly stiff requirements to get past - 3 Security and Strength>40 or 2 Telepathy and Cunning>40, which most people won’t be able to come up with after a couple of filter dilemmas.  When you don’t pass it, your opponent gets to take command of two personnel randomly.  Adding three to any Khan deck is a no-brainer, given that one of the weaknesses of the deck is a lack of variety in available personnel.

Final Thoughts

Khan is a one-trick pony, but can be an interesting trick.  In the right hands, it can work well, be still has some drawbacks.  If you don’t play it right, you can be locked out of the game.

Discuss this article in this thread.