Challenge Deck: Dominion War Cardassia

by Lucas Thompson, Designer

7th May 2021

"We're just one big, happy family, aren't we?" In the later days of the Dominion War, the Dominion was cut off from its power base in the Gamma Quadrant. Cardassia was an occupied world, and the Dominion needed to reach out for new allies, such as the Breen and the Son'a. Up against a wall, the fighting got fierce.

Draw Deck Strategy

This deck is the most traditionally aggressive of any of the beginner or challenge decks. The Dominion War Earth deck can battle to defend itself, and the Borg Beginner deck will usually ping the opponent once or twice to abduct an assimilatee, but with this deck you're looking to devastate your opponent with battle.

Devastating Melee is the key card here. Stack up a few hand weapons, and you're killing off 2-3 personnel with that assault card alone - and you can even go off and attempt a mission afterward if one of those hand weapons is the new Son'a Disruptor Pistol. That's not all the bloodshed though - Drai and Toman'torax can both remove an additional personnel in combat. Your new Son'a allies also contribute - Sam'po mills the opponent's deck, and Ru'afo helps speed up your own strategy.

At first glance, the symmetry of the draws provided by Cardassia Prime might seem to be at odds with the goal of killing your opponent's personnel. You don't want to help them rebuild, right? However, the draws are heavily front-loaded in the beginning of the game - once the killing begins, you will have played most of the different species in your deck, and the draws dry up. Just in time for your opponent to sit there with just a handful of personnel in play.

Dilemma Pile Strategy

The dilemma pile works to further this strategy of carnage. Similar to the Borg deck's pile, this dilemma pile includes a greater proportion of dilemmas that kill rather than stop. Ideally, when you swoop in to battle, your dilemma pile will already have reduced your opponent's numbers. To get the most out of your kills, I recommend keeping an eye on the cost of the personnel that your opponent is playing. Many of your killing dilemmas become more effective against a team of low-cost personnel.

Customization Tips

• Any Dominion-based deck will benefit from adding a few copies of Crippling Strike. At the cost of including an interrupt in your deck, you can often use it to buy yourself a few turns.
• And, if you're adding some interrupts to your deck, it's worth considering A Taste of Armageddon and Simulated Prey. If you have interrupts to burn on those dilemmas, they become very efficient killing machines.
• The TNG dissidents aren't the only ones who can benefit from the Ba'ku and the Briar Patch region - you could try out some new missions, such as Ba'ku Planet, Collect Metaphasic Particles.

Discuss this article in this thread.

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

• Dominion Player
• Unbroken I
• No Crutches I
• No Crutches II
• Good Casting: Combs (Weyoun)
• Heroes and Demons Release

Decklist

Hide Deck Stats

Dilemma Deck Total Dilemmas 30 Space 6 (20%) Cost 2 3 Cost 4 1 Cost 6 2 Planet 6 (20%) Cost 2 3 Cost 4 1 Cost 6 2 Dual 18 (60%) Cost 2 5 Cost 3 8 Cost 4 3 Cost 5 1 Cost 6 1 Total Dilemma Deck cost 101

Draw Deck Total Draw Deck 35 Equipment 3 (9%) Cost 1 2 Cost 2 1 Event 3 (9%) Cost 4 3 Personnel 24 (69%) Cost 1 1 Cost 2 9 Cost 3 11 Cost 4 3 Ship 5 (14%) Cost 6 3 Cost 7 2 Total Draw Deck cost 112

Skills Count Skill # Missions # Personnel 1x 2x 3x Total Acquisition 0 1 1 Anthropology 0 2 2 Archaeology 0 4 4 Astrometrics 1 4 4 Biology 0 4 4 Diplomacy 0 3 3 Engineer 3 8 8 Exobiology 0 4 4 Geology 0 1 1 Honor 0 2 2 Intelligence 0 2 2 Law 0 2 2 Leadership 3 7 1 8 Medical 1 4 4 Navigation 1 7 7 Officer 0 6 6 Physics 1 7 7 Programming 1 7 7 Science 1 3 3 Security 4 13 13 Telepathy 0 0 Transporters 0 7 7 Treachery 1 6 4 10 Icons Count Icon # Personnel % Personnel Staffing Icons Command Star 13 54.17 % Staff Star 10 41.67 % Faction Icons Terok Nor 3 12.50 % Keyword Count Keyword # Cards Alpha 1 Assault 3 Cloaking Device 1 Commander: Li'seria 2 Commander: Tenak'talar 1 Consume: 1 2 Founder 2 General 1 Genetically Enhanced 5 Glinn 1 Gul 1 Hand Weapon 3 Infiltrator 1 Legate 2 Region: Cardassia System 1 Region: Delphic Expanse 1 Region: Ligos System 1 Shape-shifter 2 Species 8472 2