 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
All Categories • Continuing Committee • Organized Play • Rules Committee • Deck Designs • Virtual Expansions
Card Extras • Special Events • Tournament Reports • Everything Else • Spotlight Series • Contests
Strategy Articles
The Never Ending Sacrifice
by Michael Shea, Ambassador
9th December 2017
BASHIR: I just thought the story got a little redundant after a while. I mean the author's supposed to be chronicling seven generations of a single family, but he tells the same story over and over again. All of his characters lead selfless lives of duty to the state, grow old and die. Then the next generation comes along and does it all over again.
GARAK: But that's exactly the point, Doctor. The repetitive epic is the most elegant form of Cardassian literature, and The Never-Ending Sacrifice is its greatest achievement.
The Cardassians were and remain my favorite alien species in the Star Trek universe. Ever since their debut in “The Wounded” all the way through to the finale of Deep Space Nine, the species was given depth and complexity and shading that made them fascinating to watch. If good science fiction contains metaphor for some part of the human condition, then the Cardassians of Star Trek stand as a warning to us to be ever mindful of our rapacious, Machiavellian, authoritarian, or militaristic tendencies. One of the most fascinating aspects of Cardassian culture is the notion that the individual is subordinated to the state. From the notion of sacrifice pervasive in Cardassian society to the horrors of the Bajoran Occupation to the “efficiency” of the Cardassian judicial system, we see time and again the darkest side of the notion of sacrifice. This deck is inspired by that aspect of Cardassian culture.
The idea behind the draw deck is simple enough: first, get Dukat, Military Advisor into play and begin drawing like mad until you get one or more of the following: Enabran Tain, “Retired Spymaster”, Seska, Pragmatic Agent, or High Command Motivation. Then, play High Command Motivation and Enabran Tain and draw your maximum to give you your resources for completing missions, including the Die is Cast and Central Command. With Dukat you can always put any access back under your draw deck. Then, play Seska, hopefully for free. At the beginning of your next turn, kill Seska or Tain with High Command Motivation to either spend seven additional counters or draw seven cards and do it all over again as needed.
The deck also has typical mainstays for this type of Cardassian deck, including Cardassian Protectorate for helping you get what you need when you need it (again for a small sacrifice); Broca, Groveling Lackey to get you copies of events to fuel The Die is Cast; Amin Maritsa, Honorable Patriot for the skill gain and high Integrity; Mila, Trusted Confidant for the interrupt prevention, Lemec, Posturing Negotiator for the attribute bump; Elim Garak, Agent of the Obsidian Order for the skill gain; Korinas, Observer from the Obsidian Order for the boost to your Intelligence personnel; Occett, Dogged Rival for the recycling ability; the Prakesh, just in case your opponent is running an engagement deck; and the Keldon Advanced because in this deck it’s so easy to get the Intelligence bonus. The 56-card draw deck size is intended to help make sure that you’ve cards to discard for Central Command or The Die is Cast, but should also be mitigated a good deal by the ability to cycle through the deck using the previously mentioned Dukat, Seska, Tain, High Command Motivation interaction in order to get what you need when you need it.
Discuss this article in this thread.
This deck is currently eligible for the following family or families of achievements:
Decklist
Back to Archive index