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Welcome to No Recent Decks! In this series, I will take a look at a card which has not been used in any recent decks. For the purposes of this series, no recent decks means you would see a “[None]” under “Recent decks using this card (since a certain date).” Each time we will examine why the card does not see a lot of play, what a deck would need to make use of the card, and take a stab at making such a deck. Today we delve all the way back to Call to Arms to take a look at Parting Shot.

Why does this card not see a lot of play?
Second Edition has several interrupts which allow you to kill an opponent’s personnel under various conditions, and pretty much none of them see play. Right off the bat it seems using an interrupt to kill one personnel generally does not give enough benefit to justify a slot in a deck. Parting Shot faces a particular challenge. This card only works when your opponent’s personnel uses a skill while facing your dilemma. Usually that means either the personnel was already going to have something bad happen to them, or the dilemma will not do anything at all.

How can we play to Parting Shot’s strengths?
While Parting Shot will not kill many of the opponent’s personnel, we can use it to target personnel with specific skills. If we can eliminate a specific skill, we can follow up with more powerful dilemmas. In this case, I will focus on two dilemmas which stop all your opponent’s personnel and return to your dilemma pile, specifically Telepathic Deception and Dangerous Liaisons. I also want to score some bonus points so I can pay for the interrupt, and get a few more targeted kills to clear out the appropriate skills. To that end, I have selected Romulans for their assassins and point generation via Prejudice and Politics and Getting Under Your Skin.

In order to make my opponent fail Telepathic Deception or Dangerous Liaisons, I need to eliminate some personnel before these dilemmas show up. Many of the other dilemmas in this dilemma pile allow me to choose personnel to kill. I have included two dilemmas with the goal of using Parting Shot. Night Terrors will allow Parting Shot to kill either a Medical personnel (who likely has Biology and/or Exobiology for Telepathic Deception) or a Science personnel (which helps with Dangerous Liaisons). Likewise, if my opponent meets the requirements on Telepathic Invasion, I can either kill a Telepathy personnel or a Treachery personnel. Better yet, if my opponent fails this dilemma I can look at their hand and remove key personnel before they hit the table. I rarely use Lack of Preparation, but with Parting Shot it can help with a last-ditch effort to take out a mission skill.

The deck below also uses Vakis to send assassins after your opponent. With all the targeted kills, you can hold off your opponent for quite some time. You will need that time, as this deck does a better job of frustrating your opponent’s mission attempts than it does of completing its own.

Discuss this article in this thread.

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

• Romulan Player
• Limited Resources
• Unbroken I
• How About a New Mission, Admiral? I
• No Crutches II
• Assassination Attempt

Decklist

Print Decklist • Print Checklist • Copy Deck • Download Into DeckPADD

Missions Headquarters 35 V 18 •Romulus, Patient Stronghold Planet 1 S 183 •Khitomer, Khitomer Investigation 35 V 17 •Nelvana III, Compelling Threat Space 21 V 14 •Alpha 5 Approach, Transport Crash Survivor 36 V 17 •Deep Space Station K-7, Monitor Federation Commerce

Draw Deck (50) Event 22 V 12 1x •Alvera Tree Ritual 49 V 13 1x •Code of the Ushaan 4 R 51 2x Far-Seeing Eyes 4 U 55 2x •Getting Under Your Skin 22 V 14 1x •Klingon Tea Ceremony 35 V 6 3x Miracle Working 15 V 13 1x •Operation Retrieve 10 R 31 2x •Parallel Course 4 U 67 1x •Power Shift 1 U 106 2x •Prejudice and Politics 8 R 38 1x •Reman Subterfuge 1 U 110 1x •Romulan Intelligence Network 0 VP 15 1x Unexpected Difficulties Interrupt 3 R 75 3x Parting Shot Personnel Romulan 1 S 356 1x •Cretak, Supporter of the Alliance 44 V 12 1x •Enabran Tain, Prideful Director 27 V 17 1x •Geordi La Forge, Sleeper Agent 1 U 359 1x •Hiren, Romulan Praetor 49 V 51 1x •Letant, Sneering Liaison 4 C 170 2x Mareth 16 V 43 1x •Neral, Seasoned Politician 35 V 36 2x Rasul 35 V 37 1x •Retaya, Chemical Agent 19 V 13 1x •Romulan Impersonator, "Geordi La Forge" 1 R 367 1x •Sela, Mysterious Operative 4 C 174 1x •Selok, Deep Cover Operative 39 V 16 1x •Shinzon, Devious Tactician 15 V 42 3x Sorus 1 R 372 1x •Tal'Aura, Impatient Senator 26 V 52 2x •Vakis, Misinformed Operative 38 V 44 1x •Vreenak, Scornful Senator Ship Romulan 1 U 410 1x •Deranas 7 R 120 1x •Devoras 44 V 18 1x •Serrola, Tip of the Spear 35 V 45 1x •T'Met, Timely Reinforcement 2 R 179 1x •Terix 2 R 180 1x •Trolarak

Dilemma Pile (26) Dual 1 C 21 2x Dangerous Liaisons 40 V 5 2x Harried and Harassed 17 V 6 2x He Wasn't Nice 4 C 19 1x Lack of Preparation 0 VP 77 2x Secret Identity 2 C 24 2x Telepathic Deception 8 U 17 3x Telepathic Invasion 0 VP 164 3x The Weak Will Perish 2 C 25 2x Timescape 35 V 4 3x Unsound Logic Planet 10 C 12 2x Necessary Execution Space 14 U 9 2x Night Terrors

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