I don't think anyone would deny that Dead End is one of the best dilemmas in the game. But how many times do you seed one, only to have it go un-encountered? I get tired of seeing such a powerful dilemma go to waste. So I figure, of the 5 dilemma combos the opponents do encounter, what if one of them was a Dead End? Yes, 2 Dead Ends in one deck. If they never encounter one, what are the chances they'd encounter both?

Because they're so powerful, two Dead Ends increase your flexibility with other dilemmas. Say you have an irrelevant dilemma, like In the Pale Moonlight against Cardassians. Firestorm against Feds, or Friendly Fire without an opposing Empok Nor. Putting those with a Dead End would compensate for the weaker card, and having two Dead Ends makes it even easier to rearrange your combos like that. Dead End can be so powerful, you might even get away with only a second card in its combo, and two 2-card combos will free up some seed slots. (Just watch out for Borg.)

Spot's Note: My favorite 2-card combo is putting an Edo Probe in front of Dead End; quite effective.

Choosing where to seed the Dead Ends will help make sure they're not both encountered. Putting them far apart is usually a good idea. Also, try to put them under missions with different requirement. If the opponent tries one mission and can't pass a Dead End, they'll probably go after a similar mission with the same personnel. Another possibility is to put one at a planet and one in space, since many decks focus on just one type of mission.

Of course, three Dead Ends is probably too many. So if you have two in your seed deck, you shouldn't keep one in your Q's Tent for Q's Planet or Scanner Interference.

And a quick rules note: if your Dead End is in play, and the opponent reveals another, the second gets discarded before you have a chance to swap it with Beware of Q. It never gets encountered.

Chris 'Rom' Brennan
Rom@wnohgb.com