|
|
|
|
The 6th Rule of Acquisition
by Rom The 6th Rule of Acquisition
What's so good about this card? Well, it's a good way of getting a Ferengi ship into play. Most Ferengi decks don't use an outpost. Quark's Bar on DS9 and the Tower of Commerce have so many useful abilities, outposts seem rather boring. Of course, without an outpost you can't use Spacedoor. If you have a few copies of the 6th Rule, you have more chances of drawing either the Rule or a ship. And the 6th Rule can download unique ships, Spacedoor can't. There are many reasons it's better than Hidden Fighter, it's even a better Dabo probe than Hidden Fighter! Downloading two Equipment can be worth giving up one personnel. Especially if it's a personnel you don't need. Extra equipment helps to overcome popular dilemmas like Scientific Method or Hippocratic Oath. Or use Tricorders for Founder Secret, Ferengi Bug, or the insanely easy Quest for the Sword. And there's always hand weapons. (Everything seems to come down to battle sooner or later.) Both download abilities also work wherever you are. You don't need to return to a facility to pick up those extra weapons. What about the last ability? Isn't Kivas Fajo: Collector better? Not if you can play the 6th Rule for free with a Scepter of the Grand Nagus. You can even download the Scepter with a 6th Rule. Like Renewal Scroll, this card drawing can not be copied with Mirror Image. And never forget, the 6th Rule can reshuffle opponent's Ferengi, too. The biggest problem with the 6th Rule is figuring out who can use it. Here's a simple list
That list only includes personnel who can naturally use the 6th Rule. You could, of course, have Maihar'du use the 6th Rule to place Zek beneith your draw deck if you gave Maihar'du Greed or Treachery with Reflection Therapy. Rom mentions both Leeta and Nog, but they are all unable to use the 6th Rule without help.
So how do you make sure you can get the right personnel to use the 6th Rule? Well, you are probably playing most of them already. Quark, Brunt, Gint, Zek, Rom, Ishka and Maihar'du are found in most Ferengi decks. That's 8 different pairs who can use the 6th Rule. If you add Pel, Gral and Krax, you're up to 11. If you want more, just choose your missions around those personnel and you can easily find use for multiples of them in your deck. You can also get help from other cards. Quark can be downloaded with Quark's Isolinear Rods. Writ of Accountability can give you Brunt. They complete a pair by themselves. The 1st Rule of Acquisition, Ferengi Conference, Ready Room Door, Quark's Bar and Cargo Bay downloads can also help complete pairs. The 1st Rule of Acquisition is best way to start a deck based around the 6th Rule. Use a seeded 1st Rule to get Gint and a Latinum, Quark's Isolinear Rods for Quark. Use the Latinum to download the Scepter of the Grand Nagus, then use the Scepter to play the 6th Rule for free. Gint's special download is pretty useful, if you don't draw a 6th Rule. Or, in a deck designed around multiple rules, download the Rules of Acquisition equipment and use that to get 6th Rules. Now, if that entire combo takes place at the Tower of Commerce, Gint and Quark both play for free. You can have a ship in play 2nd turn, and you still have not used your 2nd turn's card play! You can start Cargo Runs immediately by running the Scepter. Gint at Quark's Bar is very good for 6th Rule decks; you can download Quark or Rom there as many times as you want. A minor drawback is that the Scepter can not play directly to Quark's Bar, but you could just download it there the first time you play the Rule. Or get Morn with a Cargo Bay, use his Special Download Latinum for the Scepter, and then use the 6th Rule for weapons to keep him unopposed. If you have enough copies of Quark and/or Rom, you can keep playing them for free, and 6th Rules for free with the Scepter, and you still have your card play/draw every turn. Another option is to use Ferengi Conference. Download Gaila, Gral, Iska, or Pel and have Quark reshuffle them. You end up with profit from the 6th Rule, and 1 or 2 downloaded civilians remaining. Gaila, Leck, Pel, Aluura and Maihar'du are all downloadable with Ferengi Conference and all have staff ability; Leeta and Quark Son of Keldar are civilians with Leadership. (Just have Gint use the 6th Rule on plain simple Quark before you download Son of Keldar.) Combine those with a few Cargo Bay downloads for more leaders, like Omag, Solok, Galen, or Ocett, and you have a quick start on a Marauder Armada. (Again, it all seems to come down to battle.) Chris "Rom" Brennan
|
One word of caution: Say you play the 6th Rule on Gral, he can reshuffle "Quark", but not "any Quark". So even though the Son of Keldar happens to be a persona of Quark, that personnel is not actually named by Gral.