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Stop First Contact by Sean O'Reilly Why would anyone want to play with an anti-Federation Borg deck? Well, it's not just an anti-Fed deck anymore. It is a good idea to build a well-constructed and concise deck using any affiliation. For the Borg, one way this can be accomplished via a Stop First Contact deck. How is it concise? The Borg are required to probe to see if they are successful in completing their current objective. With a Stop First Contact deck you can easily make a deck that only require a red probe to be successful. Secondly, a SFC deck needs to complete just two missions to win - which is something most good decks regardless of their affiliation do (Romulan Archeaology, Federation Diplomacy, Klingon Honor, etc...) Many of the other affiliations have problems creating those types of decks using both space and planet missions effectively. With Espionage Mission and Secret Salvage, this deck uses just red probes while being totally safe from The Big Picture. Building a SFC Deck Part 1: Disguising Your Missions One of the most important things I think you can do is to disguise the fact that you're playing Borg until you seed your Borg Outpost. Why? Many players may alter their dilemma combos or seeding strategy if they realize you are playing Borg - especially if its a SFC deck. The first step in disguising your missions is to use missions that go well with Espionage Mission (Earth) and Secret Salvage (Wolf 359). I feel there are two ways to do this - "show" a Romulan space deck by including Quash Conspiracy OR "show" a Romulan planet deck by including Romulus and two other thirty-five point missions. If you really want to confuse your opponent you have the option of seeding a thirty point planet. Your opponent may believe you aren't playing Borg by using a planet you can't assimiliate. One note on using Quash Conspiracy - a good strategy to hurt a SFC deck is to beam a large crew aboard a Borg Cube and start killing off the drones. There is a "no ship-to-ship" beaming restriction at Quash Conspiracy which can work in your favor. Part 2: The Seed Deck There are some seed cards which are essential to a Borg SFC deck which need no explaining: Borg Outpost Transwarp Network Gateway Q's Tent Alternate Universe Door (or Space-Time Portal) Population 9 Billion - All Borg Spacedoor There are also some cards which I feel should be seeded for various reasons: Fair Play - keep that non-Borg opponent from stealing your missions Operate Wormhole Relays - this deck has a major weakness and its being wormholed to the Gamma Quadrant (or to Montana Missile Complex too early). This card can help keep your opponent from locking your deck down. Mission Debriefing - slow down your non-Borg opponent's speed deck so you can win. You can also use this Event to your advantage - it becomes risky for your opponent to solve Earth because if they have personnel there when you complete Stop First Contact they'll become your new Borg drones! Long Live the Queen - helps when you Regenerate; can hurt your opponent's Regenerate and will download a new Borg Queen if your first one dies. Comlink Drone - Prevents Computer Crashes and give you a seedable personnel. Salvage Starship - its a seedable Hidden Agenda and a good backup objective for you to do if your opponent is Borg and completes SFC before you do. You can also play with a Q-Continuum or Battle Bridge Door if you want to - that's your choice and I would suggest you make that decision based on the gaming enviroment in your area. Part 3: The Draw Deck My SFC decks have had between 34-37 cards in my draw deck. Now you realize that you're going to have to get a red probe to complete SFC. What cards should you include? Here's the bad news - you're going to need 3 Locutus of Borgs and 3 Borg Queens. You might be lucky to know a non-Borg player who owns Fajo Collection... trade for his Locutus which never gets used and you're on your way. Cards with red probe icons that must be in your deck: Locutus of Borg x3 Borg Queen x3 Stop First Contact Assimilate Homeworld Borg Cube Seven of Nine Awaken x9 Notes on above cards: You can not download the Queen or Locutus to start in any manner so the best alternative is to stock your deck with multiples and wait until either come up in your hand. Assimilate Homeworld can be downloaded using A Change of Plans, while the Cube can be downloaded using the Spacedoor. The nine Awakens are used to rid yourself of vital drones you stock in your draw deck (i.e. Interlink, Quantum, Countermeasure, Transwarp, Bio Med, Proficiency). The smaller the draw deck becomes the easier it is to get that Locutus or Queen in your hand. Cards without red probe icons that must be in your deck: Temporal Vortex x2 Launch Portal Transwarp Network Gateway x2 Regenerate A Change of Plans Alternate Universe Doorway Notes on above cards: You play the Temporal Vortex the turn after you complete scouting at Earth to move to Montana Missile Complex, but like the Queen and Locutus you need one of these in your hand beforehand. The two TNGs will be out of your deck before you move to the Alpha Quadrant while the AU Door and A Change of Plans should be out of the draw deck before you probe for SFC. The Launch Portal has two reasons to be in the deck as explained later. Other cards I include in the draw deck: Interlink Drone Bio-Med Drone Assault Drone Quantum Drone Countermeasure Drone Transwarp Drone Reassimiliation Drone Part 4: The Q's Tent Thirteen different cards. What to include? Everything in my Tent is downloadable, so I throw in a few objectives (Assimilate Planet, Assimilate Homeworld, Stop First Contact) a few drones (Cyber Drone, Interlink Drone, Multiplexor Drone), a few ships (Borg Scout Vessel, Queen's Borg Sphere) and other downloadable cards (A Change of Plans, Alternate Universe Door, Adapt: Modulate Shields, Engage Shuttle Operations, Adapt: Negate Obstruction). The Launch Portal in my draw deck is there for two reasons. It can download the Queen's Borg Sphere if I need it (it can download a Temporal Vortex at MMC or if a Borg Ship dilemma is encountered at that location). It can also download Engage Shuttle Operations (then protect it from nullification) and download a Borg Scout Vessel. Why include this? Some decks use multiple Scanner Interferences to download Distortion Fields. If Earth has multiple distortion fields on it (a tactic seen in VCM decks), there is no other way to get to the surface in this deck without using the Launch Portal and Engage Shuttle Operations. The extra objectives are in there as backup in case the ones in the draw deck are discarded somehow (i.e. Subspace Schism), while the extra AU Door helps get rid of Revolving Doors on either Q's Tents or your vital end-of-spaceline TNG. Part 5: Playing The first thing you should do is get your Seven of Nine (via Awaken) out as soon as possible, then download the TNG to your Borg Outpost and begin to use her extra card draws as often as you can so you get your Locutus and Queen out that much faster. You can download needed blue and green drones with Awakens (Seven of Nine can provide the required red icon for yoru Cube). Download your Cube by closing your Spacedoor. After your second turn you should have four drones (or three and a Locutus or Queen) and be getting ready to move between Quadrants. Make sure if you don't get your final TNG in your hand you download it with your Transwarp Drone's skill. Once your drones and Queen are in play, try to download A Change of Plans (to download Assimiliate Homeworld to the table), Adapt: Negate Obstruction (dilemma clearer) and Alternate Univese Doors. As soon as you can, move to the Alpha Quadrant and start scouting Earth. It is reasonable to believe you can be at Earth with a full ship and at least either the Queen or Locutus on your fourth turn (fifth at the latest - but if everything goes right you can be at Earth on your second turn). Start scouting and remember to download the bad probes out of your draw deck whenever possible. There are about four dilemmas you're going to have to Adapt to at a planet: Beserk Changeling, Armus: Sticky Situtation, Alien Parasites, and In the Pale Moonlight. Normally, your opponent will place these under separate missions, but if they don't you may have to Regenerate early. You may consider adding an Adapt:NO to your draw deck for this reason. However, once you're done with scouting Earth there are few dilemmas that the Borg will have to Adapt to at a space location. Part 6: Earth Has Been Scouted Once scouting is complete at Earth remember you need to do this: Play a Temporal Vortex on Earth so you can move to MMC. Make sure all your Borg with Biological Distinctiveness: Human will be at MMC (i.e. Seven of Nine, Locutus, etc...) or else when SFC is completed they'll be put out-of-play. Move to MMC... probe at the end of your turn. If it's a red probe... (and it should be) You've completed SFC. Discard SFC. Download a new objective (Assimilate Planet from your Tent). Assimilate all personnel on Earth. All non-AU humans and Federation personnel are put out-of-play (including Borg that were formerly humans). You have 40 points. Reveal Population 9 Billion - All Borg (so further objective you successful complete in the Alpha Quadrant are worth double points). On your next turn move back to the regular spaceline. Go to Secret Salvage and reveal Salvage Starship and complete that objective for another 60 points and you'll have your 100 to win. If you need to, you can complete Assimilate Planet for another 50 if your opponent has an unsolved Q's Planet out. Part 7: What Problems May Occur? You may get a bad draw. Remember to keep downloading everything you can out of your draw deck to make it as small as possible. Sometimes even the best deck won't work - but the odds are if your favor. Your opponent attacks your Cube or sends over an army of androids. There's not much you can do other than use your Adapt: Modulate Shields and hope for the best! Your opponent is using a nullifier heavy deck and won't let you Adapt or Awaken. If this is the case use Seven's ability to draw cards in place of your card play to get your Queen out. Then use your Queen to download your drones as needed. If the players in your area use many Amanda Rogers I would strongly consider adding The Line Must Be Drawn Here! or Oof! (which is great against Fighting Words as well). Your opponent may be playing Borg. You will have to be faster than they are... this is the one case where you may want to consider using Assimilate Starship to slow down your opponent's scouting attempts. Another option is to really slow your Borg opponent down with a Q-Flash and the "Go Back Whence Thou Camest" card - remember you can't play Adapts to Q-related dilemmas! Finally, your opponent is Q-bypassing. I encourage using a Q-Continuum sidedeck with any Borg deck since you can't use the Writ of Accountability if you play Borg. If you include a few Hide and Seeks in your Q-Flash you should nail them. Every strategy has ways to be defeated - look at the ones players in your area are using to determine which can hurt your SFC and prepare a defense against them. Final Notes The best way to learn how a SFC deck works is to play with one. The more often you play with the deck, the more proficient you'll become with it and better prepared to change it as needed to fit the gaming environment in your area! Sean "Jono" O'Reilly JONO1701@prodigy.net