Submitted by Jaglom Shrek on Fri, 04/20/2007 - 09:45
Written as part of the coverage for the Big-Event "EC 2007".
Written as part of the coverage for the Big-Event "EC 2007".This Strategy-Note article was written by openCards user Jaglom Shrek at Apr 20th, 2007.
During the past years, STCCG players from Germany have always shown a strong presence at the European Continentals. In 2005, four Germans travelled to the Netherlands. In 2006, they were the biggest faction, with six players making the trip to Belgium. Now, in 2007, the EC takes place in Berlin, and undoubtedly the majority of the players will hail from the hosting country. For foreign players, this means they will have to take the particularities of the German meta into consideration when they build their EC decks.
In order to help you prepare for the EC, let’s have a quick look at some of the decks that dominated various high-level tournaments in Germany in the past two years. Can you guess which interesting aspect of the German meta is the focus of this article..?
- 3rd place: Ferenginar/Earth, HH
Do you notice a pattern? Indeed, in 2005 and 2006, several major events saw a double homeworld deck take the top spot. By the way, these 6 decks were played by 5 different players, in case you were wondering whether most of them were designed by a single brilliant multi-HQ addict. This does of course not mean that everybody in Germany is playing dual-HQ all the time. In fact, I don’t think the number of dual-HQ decks in our area is significantly higher than in other (European) countries, but the list above clearly shows that those decks have an impressive record of standing their ground at high-level events over here.
We know that, starting with Necessary Evil, Decipher has printed many cards that punish the use of more than one headquarters, most of them in the form of dilemmas. However, dual-HQ decks still managed to do quite well, and have won some big tournaments, despite the attempts to tame them. So why is it that those “punisher” cards seem to have had only limited impact?
To answer this question we have to take a closer look at the decks mentioned above. Basically, they can be identified as belonging into one of two major categories: dilemma denial, and lock-out.
The 2005 decks are all excellent examples of how circumnavigating your opponent’s dilemma pile is the safest way to win a game. The synergy of K’mtar’s downloading ability and the already brilliant Federation/Bajoran Diplomacy solver proved to be highly effective. The same is true for the Bajoran/Dominon deck, which used the Baraka’s virtually unlimited range and combined it with the Founder Architects attributes of 10 to attempt each mission with only 3 personnel. With Running a Tight Ship and Tampering with Time, these decks made sure they never had to face a dilemma.
The same effect was achieved by the Ferengi/Starfleet deck, using a combination of Dabo, Malcolm Reed and Morik: with the help of those lovely, wheel-spinning Dabo Girls and Reed, you can “overcome” enough dilemmas before you have to leave your Homeworld and start attempting to walk through your missions without resistance. And now that These are the Voyages has hit the streets, that basic Ferengi/Morik engine has already been successfully combined with Carolyn Palamas, an inconspicuous TOS weenie who has a mighty upgrade ability. Look up what she does and you will understand her power!
Even though these decks needed some turns to set up, the advantage they gained by not having to face dilemmas was usually enough to outspeed even the fastest speed solver. Why worry about dual-HQ punishers when you know you are not going to face any?
The other two decks had an entirely different focus: Instead of avoiding dilemmas, they tried to interfere with their opponents’ decks. In the case of the Terok Nor/Romulan deck, the amount of cards lost to the Jake Sisko/Dissident discard engine severely limited the number of personnel your opponent was able to put into play. With killer dilemmas and assassins around, many players simply didn’t have enough attributes or skills left to complete their missions, and had to spend the rest of the game watching the Dissidents complete their missions. The Klingon/Romulan deck used combat/engagement, and other nasty things like Brainwashing to decimate its opponent’s resources. (Another example of this decktype is the infamous “Screwy Squirrel”, a Ferengi/Dominon discard variant - fellow writer Thomas Vorwerk will be happy to give you more information). Here, the decks could afford to face punisher dilemmas, because they didn’t mind being stopped for a few more turns.
Of course, the RATS/TWT errata have eventually taken some power from the dilemma denial decks, but the basic strategy is still viable. You just have to make sure to get rid of any dilemma manipulation your opponent might have in play - or pray that they will have a bad draw.
Enter Mr. Josephs. Of all the punisher cards so far, this little TOS weenie has the biggest potential to put a dent into the multi-HQ fun. There are no decks that can survive the (possibly repeated) loss of 10 cards and still have enough resources to execute their game plan effectively.
Or are there?
Let’s take another look at the Dissident discard deck. Are you sure you want to play an upgraded Josephs to take away 10 cards from a 60+ pile? Are your sure you want to spend almost a full turn’s worth of counters on playing a three-skilled weenie, giving your opponent another turn for his discard strategy? And, are you sure you want to do the dirty work for him and discard 5 of your own cards? You had better think twice before you make your decision.
The Dabo deck, which runs three copies of most of its important cards, can also survive a hit by Josephs, because it can usually put all the cornerstones of its strategy into play during the first three or four turns. Played early, Josephs can certainly do some serious damage to this deck. In the middle/late game, however, you might actually end up doing your opponent a favour, as you will make it easier for him to reach the copies of Malcolm Reed that have gone to the bottom of the deck.
Even with Josephs around, there are still viable dual-HQ strategies out there, and if players think they have discovered a promising double homeworld synergy, they won’t let that one card keep them from taking it to the EC. After all, there are plenty of ways to get cards back from the discard pile. And, there are ways to prevent your opponent from playing Josephs. And, who says you will face a TOS deck during the EC?
I can’t guarantee that you will meet a double (or triple?) homeworld deck in Berlin, but looking at the history of Trek events in Germany, I’d be surprised if you don’t. And if you are planning to take a TOS deck to the EC anyway, it certainly won’t hurt to stock that extra copy of Josephs.
