Embracing all Spacelines: Guide to Multi-quadrant Deck Design, Part One

by Austin Chandler, Staff Writer

22nd February 2009

Dominion in the Delta Quadrant? Vidiian in the Gamma? Hirogen in the Mirror Universe? If you think this is a bizarre concept, you are absolutely right. However, it can be fun to do and we’ll learn how in this series on multi-quadrant deck designs. Each article in this series will focus on building a deck around this idea and putting it through its paces against popular deck constructs.

Background of this deck:

Initially, I got this idea after Voyager came out. I was (and still am) an opinionated and devoted Dominion player. I will admit that I got a little frustrated with Voyager, Vidiian and then later, the Hirogen speed decks. Although they couldn’t easily come to my side of the spaceline, I couldn’t easily go to theirs either. One solution: take the time to examine what it would involve to visit all quadrants, and see how it would work out.

Strategy:

There are two ideas associated with a Multi-Quadrant Deck:

1) Battle
2) Confusion Speed Mission Solving So why would you want to build such a deck? We’ll go through some of those reasons.

Battle Decks – The problem I see with Battle Decks is, while they are creative with how to get out a massive armada, they are hampered by the need to battle. Battle Decks sacrifice the ability to have a large pool of skills and classifications to being able to field an armada. Players who face such decks can turn this to their advantage by using multi-skill dilemma combos. Battle Decks also suffer from certain dilemma combos and certain mission requirements. Many matching commanders have an abundance of Diplomacy, OFFICER, VIP, Treachery, and Honor, but other skills needed to get past dilemmas and to score mission points are scarcer. Are both of these issues always in Battle Decks? No, however many of them suffer from this and will be slower than other decks except in card deployment. By still being able to get to your opponent, you can enjoy the chase and still conduct your slaughter. The look on your opponent’s face when your loyal Dominion troops board his Hirogen ships or when the Vidiians take over Empok Nor is well worth it.

Confusion Speed Mission Solving - Confusion how? Well, many opponents will seed dilemma combos depending on how the spaceline is set up (this is especially true of any dilemma that travels on the spaceline). However, if you are in four different quadrants and give no clear indication of where your facility will be, it can cause a certain amount of grumbling from your opponent. The ability to wormhole from place to place can be a little addictive as well, especially when you save on range and time.

This would be considered a fun deck concept. It definitely isn’t cookie cutter and it does take skill, luck of deck draw, and persistence to play. Once you get it to work, no quadrant is closed to you.

Seed cards: 6 Missions and 8 Seed Slots Used

Missions: (6)

• Liberation - for Caretaker's Array
• A Badlands Region mission - Search and Rescue, Search for Rebels, Study Badlands or Verify Evidence
• Wormhole Negotiations - for Barzan Wormhole
• Three missions of your choice

Doorways: (4 and 1)

• Bajoran Wormhole x2
• Bajoran Wormhole: Mirror Universe
• Space-Time Portal - primarily to be used as the end point of a wormhole if you do not have two in hand
• Barzan Wormhole - seeded in Delta or Gamma Quadrant, depending on what opponent plays

OR

If you are playing Borg, you can seed Transwarp Network Gateways

Facilities/Outposts: (1)

You need one outpost somewhere on the spaceline. I also recommend an outpost elsewhere (or in every quadrant if you want to be crazy). The reasoning behind this is four special cards - Assign Mission Specialists, Assign Support Personnel, Defend Homeworld, and Spacedoor. These four cards can allow you to already field personnel dedicated to whatever you need, wherever you need them, with a ship already there. We'll discuss these tactics in more detail in part two of this series.

Incidents: (1)

Caretaker’s Array – Can seed a ship at the Caretaker's Array and use Home Away From Home (good for a battle deck) OR allows a ship in the Badlands Region to come to Caretaker’s Array (both battle and mission decks).

Objectives: (1)

Operate Wormhole Relays – Will make sure your Bajoran Wormholes can be downloaded

In Deck:

Wormhole – to facilitate multi-quadrant moving

OR

If playing Borg, Transwarp Conduit or Transwarp Network Gateway (if seeding Transwarp Network Gateway)

Once you have the above cards, you are ready to build a multi-quadrant deck using the affiliation of your choice. That’s when the real fun begins. Part two will feature in-depth deck design and analysis...and we'll see if the Dominion overextend themselves or not.

-djl-
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