Key Dilemmas #1 - Let Them Worry

by Chris Lobban, Assistant Designer

14th July 2008

Who needs more than one dilemma deck, anyway? Once you find the perfect dilemma combos, can't you just insert that same dilemma pile into any deck you build?

Not anymore. Now, with Favor the Bold at your fingertips, you might not even want to. Along the same lines as the previous headquarters-specific dilemmas, Favor the Bold introduces a whole new cycle of Keyword-specific dilemmas. So now you're not just looking to see what headquarters you put in your deck, but also how many copies of a keyword you included. And how quickly can you get those guys into play?

Our first dilemma in this series calls out the keyword "Shape-shifter". And with 26 different Shape-shifter personnel in the game, you should have no problem getting three of them in play before your opponent hits this dilemma. Let's look at some of your options...

If you're playing Dominion, obviously you have the most flexibility. With seventeen different Shape-shifters amongst them, getting three out early shouldn't be a challenge. You probably won't even have to change your deck at all to throw this card in. Of course, those seventeen include two Bashir Founders, three Founder Leaders, and two Lovok Founders so that knocks off four options... but then it also includes the non-unique Founder Architect and Founder Councilor, so with three copies of each of those, you're back up to seventeen in play at a time. And with four uniques plus both non-uniques having cost two, with a good opening hand you could even have the three required Shape-shifters in play by the end of your first turn... well before your opponent will even think of attempting a mission. All in all, a very effective dilemma to add to most Dominion decks, especially if you're playing a Dominion Infiltration deck that already relies heavily on having lots of Founders in play!

But if you don't play Dominion, don't feel left out! With three Non-Aligned Shape-shifters available (Laas, Martia and Silik), anybody can join in the fun! Okay, well, anybody except Borg. Martia is already the queen of keywords, so I'm sure I'll be discussing her quite often during this series. But in this case, she doesn't even need to use her ability to activate this dilemma. That leaves you open to using it for a different keyword (maybe for your Captain's Log deck, or for one of the other dilemmas I'll be discussing later?). And of course, if you're playing Bajoran or Cardassian you've got access to Odo as well, plus Thrax for the Cardassians. Even Deep Space 9 and Terok Nor decks get a bit of help in addition to the Non-Aligneds (Deep Space 9, obviously, gets Odo; Terok Nor gets an Odo and a Founder Leader).

So although this dilemma might be an easy addition to your Dominion decks, with a bit of consideration, you can potentially fit it into any deck that you want. We're not just changing the way you build your dilemma pile, we're changing the way you build your entire deck!

Next time... if their prejudice and politics weren't reason enough, now you've got even more reason to hate the Romulan Senate.