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Deck Building With Keevan
by Keevan There's been a bit of discussion on deck construction recently...and I thought it might be helpful for others to see how one person builds a deck. So...I present to you the working process of a non-aligned deck I've been building recently. Comments are welcome...but do keep in mind that everyone tends to build decks slightly differently...and plays different strategies. This deck is one that I have been working on. First, I wanted a theme...since non-aligned is an affiliation now, how about a pure non-aligned deck? Ok. Affiliation chosen. What can I do with it? I happen to have (extremely good (or bad) luck) seven copies of Recruit Mercenaries...and thought that might be a good deck theme. So I then pulled the non-aligned people with treachery (there are a LOT of them). Tried to see what skills are available, what classifications, etc. Then I looked at non-aligned missions...with these people, what could I reasonably DO? I settled with: Deliver Supplies, Study Cometary Cloud, Establish Relations, Explore Interstellar Matter (x2), and a Nebula (which, I might add, ISN'T as focused as a deck I would normally play). Then I looked at what might help provide a card engine...and (as it turned out) what would help me play those Recruit Mercenaries cards...I added a handful of Kivas Fajo: Collectors and a handful of parallax arguers to help play those events. I wasn't satisfied...what would happen if I added a basic Nor and some sites...docking ports would let Xepolite freighters play for free, promenade shops would help with draws (given lots of events and interrupts) a security office would provide more flexibility in reporting, a cargo bay might help with MORE flexibility with reporting and another possible card engine, Ops and a Science Lab. This looks promising! I needed a few Xepolite Freighters and equipment...two Plasmadyne Relays, Kukalaka (non-aligned treachery have LOW integrity), an Engineering Kit, and a Medical Kit. Here is what I had: Core deck:
Missions were from above. Dilemmas--obviously I'd use a couple of Altonian Brain Teasers, self-seeded, to counter the point loss from Recruit mercenaries. I looked at what I had assembled. First few observations: Wow. That's a BIG draw Deck...and I am definitely missing a few key skills (ie officer!). What can I do about that...hmmm. Well, how about a Tent. I can move a mix of people into my tent that can then be downloaded depending on what I need...And...If I recruit mercenaries in combination of people with three and four skill dots I could get three people per turn (play someone, parallax a Recruit...download people)...OK. A tentative tent took place (using it as a download bank--I could get combinations of two people depending on what I needed): Tent (still leaving some room for other things):
Then I looked at other people to eliminate...Would I really need Berlingoff Rasmussen, or Hagath, or Sakonna, or Galen...Sure they could be nice cards...but they don't add a lot. OK, remove them. What else do I need? How about a few Soong type androids? They can generate any classification I could need...and with cybernetics could help speed up some card plays (not to mention a source of youth against Isabellas, and a relatively high integrity). And I'm still not happy with my officers (or diplomacy) maybe Dathon. Hmmm...OK, let's add:
Re-examine skills...NO geology can be found. That would be bad! And my medical (since medical deprivation is big here) is low. OK...add two copies of Vekor. I don't have any counters or support cards...hmmm. How about:
I still MAY need another means to score points...and I have a lot of civilians. I add a colony. What about mission stealing? My Non-aligned with Tallera could do a lot of damage...and that gives me more flexibility in tripping dilemmas too. And with Recruit Mercenaries, I could download directly to Tallera the skills I would need to steal...How about adding Garak and Kassidy Yates to open that up to two more affiliations? Plus they add good skills. Add:
OK...I haven't even looked at other seed cards. Hmm. I guess I'll need some back up facility other than my Nor. And I'm not happy that I wouldn't survive an armada either...OK...how about a Neutral outpost to be seeded at the nebula? Hmm. What are the odds of drawing a ship? Not that good. I'll add a spacedoor. AU capacity? I have a number of AU cards (in that the reflection therapies could be critical) so I'll add an AU Door AND an Space-Time Portal for flexibility. Oh. I need to protect my tent since most of my personnel are there. Add a wrong door to the deck and an AU door for flexibility. Although I could get by with a closed tent...and some creativity. What else?...It's Only a Game is standard fare here. (Add a scorched hand to the tent). Mirror Image is good--although I am planning on using Kivas...Access Denied? Another thought. OK. Let's look at missions again. Fair play won't help me much since I'm using a lot of universal missions. What about an Magic Carpet Ride to Qualor II? That fits thematically...and Establish Relations requires a lot of integrity which I don't have a lot of. OK. Replace Establish Relations with Qualor II...Add two Magic Carpet Ride OCD to my seed cards. Do I want Fair Play? It would only protect two missions...hmm a question. I re-examine my draw deck...still too big. What can I get rid of. Well, with the soong-types and reflection therapies, I could dump a few more people: Out go Krozth, Soto, Kivas Fajo. A lot of counters...what if I eliminate the Amandas...Kevins will help against pollution decks (which is one of the local meta-game concerns). Out go the Amandas. Flexibility. I don't have any sites available. Do I need Ops? Well, no. I'm not Ops downloading because nothing is matching on a cardassian station and what can be downloaded the cargo bay can do (ie...Kassidy Yates)...do I need to worry about commandeering the station? No! I don't need Ops at all...Ok, out that comes. What could I replace it with? I'll add a Guest Quarters; a Soong Type Android could be a VIP to help manipulate the draw deck. I'll stop here with my process because at this point fine tuning the deck
becomes a matter of preference. You still need dilemmas--and take in mind
that I have two Altonian Brain Teasers to off-set the Recruit Mercs and two
Magic Carpet Rides...But your tastes can vary. Ultimately I added a
couple of dilemmas in my Q's Tent (since I had some space available) got rid
of a couple of seeded cards (eliminated the Mirror Image) and trimmed out a
few more cards in my draw deck. My initial trial runs of this deck were
promising...but not entirely satisfactory!! I still had a draw deck that
was too big and playing the Recruit Mercenaries (WITH a parallax) was odd.
But this is at least a glimpse into how I build decks--Here is the deck list
for those interested:
Hope this is all helpful...feel free to comment, tinker, and enjoy. Keevan 
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