Continuing in the Ferengi [insert word of choice] planet/space dilemma tradition of the past few expansions (Ferengi Ingenuity in BoG, Ferengi Bug in RoA), we now have...

Ferengi Infestation (#5, R)
Planet/Space Dilemma
Icons: Trouble with Tribbles
In anticipation of a prisoner exchange, a Dominion delegation boarded Empok Nor in 2374.  They found that Ferengi were already entrenched there.
Opponent may download up to two male Ferengi to a facility at this location (or up to six if facility is Empok Nor).  To get past requires 2 SECURITY and CUNNING>50.

Yikes.  This is one powerful dilemma, seeded under Empok Nor or not.  Even if you aren't playing Ferengi, it's an excellent dilemma to use.  Why? Simply put, it requires the most number of personnel to pass of any wall in the game.  Not only does it require certain skills (2 SECURITY, although this is common), but 51 CUNNING is much greater than any other wall can amass.  Q takes more personnel to overcome, but it doesn't stick around if you fail it.  Other walls, such as In the Pale Moonlight or even the mighty Founder Secret can be gotten around with a single personnel in some cases. Not so with Ferengi Infestation.

It can't be nullified except with a general-purpose nullifier, such as Adapt: Negate Obstruction or Senior Staff Meeting.  So, with the above exceptions, there's no way to get around that huge requirement.

Note that this may actually be a disadvantage against a Borg player on a planet: when the first scout is stopped, he can beam down another, to run into the same dilemma... and get stopped.  Repeat until you have most of your personnel on the planet, then next turn overcome the dilemma and solve planet dilemmas with a full complement of Borg, allowing you to overcome traditional planet must-Adapts such as Alien Parasites or Berserk Changeling.  So, against Borg decks, it's a good idea to seed this one *first.*  Seed it last, and your opponent will likely steamroll through the other dilemmas at that location.  This is another reason why it's so important to try to guess what affiliation/strategy your opponent is playing as early in the seed phase as possible.  A common mistake among players (which I often do myself, if I get lazy) is to keep their dilemmas in rigid combos.  This is one of the biggest stumbling blocks between intermediate and advanced players.  There's nothing wrong with putting together combos, and seeding them that way most of the time.  However, it's best to design your dilemma combos so that they're easily interchangeable, so you can rearrange one or two dilemmas while keeping the combo fairly intact.  And especially against Borg, you'll often want to rearrange the dilemmas -- putting "must-Adapt" dilemmas near spaceline ends, for instance, and changing the order of the dilemmas within the combo, to avoid problems like the one with seeding personnel-amassers first.  This is why so many Borg decks try to disguise their affiliation -- they have the most to gain from an opponent who mistakes them for playing something else.

If you don't think your opponent's playing Borg, this will usually be seeded last (encountered first).  This ensures a number of personnel attempting the mission, which you can take advantage of in numerous ways.  The Higher... the Fewer and Q-Flash are the obvious choices here.  Other consequences are that you'll get more targets for Shot in the Back, Common Thief, Q-type Android, or any "opponent's choice" dilemma.  If you're playing a battle deck or Scanner Interference lockdown, with Mission Debriefing you can trap/kill a number of personnel when your opponent attempts a planet with this dilemma.  It'll make Borg Ship and especially Cytherians quite mean, often forcing your opponent to burn a QtR for the former and lose a lot of crew for a long time in the latter case.  Note that STP-ing the ship back to your hand is very risky, as it'll be loaded with lots of crew.  Obelisk/Masaka and most of your personnel just got sent to the bottom of your deck.  If it takes you over twelve cards into Scorched Hand range, all the better.  (Scorch first, then Masaka so they draw fewer cards, keeping their personnel a number of draws farther away).  Back on the Q-Flash idea, using Beware of Q to swap this dilemma for a Q-Flash is also an excellent plan.  Wait until your opponent has the personnel to overcome it, then replace it with a Flash -- your opponent would have passed the dilemma anyway.  You might as well thin out some personnel (or burn a QtR with Fightin' Words).

As you can see, this is extremely flexible.  And we're ignoring the thing about downloading Ferengi and seeding under Empok Nor as well!

Obviously, if you're playing Ferengi the deal gets even better.  If you've got a facility at the mission, you get at least two male Ferengi... *any* two male Ferengi, regardless of uniqueness or whatever.  Quark, Gint, Gaila, Zek, Brunt... lots of options here.  And if your opponent can't overcome the dilemma and it goes back under the mission, you get two more the next time your opponent attempts.  Even if your opponent meets the conditions, you'll still get your download.

And at Empok Nor, downloading up to six is a very nice anti-Empok trick. Although this is usually Ferengi-only, downloading that many Ferengi to Empok Nor is a definite pain to anybody trying to commandeer Empok. Surprisingly, Ferengi males are not much weaker than anybody else, and six of them will be able to hold their own for quite a while.  And against those first-turn Empok commandeer decks with QIR, ASP, AMS, and DH to get enough personnel to pass every single Empok dilemma, they often utilize Amarie and 10 and 01, both of whom will likely die in combat.  If you're not playing Ferengi, this is still the biggest Empok Nor staller of them all.  Friendly Fire times out, Garak Has Some Issues is generally ineffective, and Oops! requires less personnel.  Sleeper Trap is the only one that's even close. Note that Ferengi Ingenuity combines the best of Oops! and Sleeper Trap: it's got requirements you have to pass (much more hefty requirements, no less), plus you have to deal with personnel opposing you at Ops before you can commandeer.

The final verdict: Wow.  I'm really impressed with this dilemma.  At least one of these is going into every one of my decks.  The flexibility is truly awesome -- I just grazed the surface in this review.  Almost any deck can benefit from one or two of these.  Never knew the Ferengi could be so annoying!

Next, one of the coolest scenes from "Trials and Tribble-ations": Lineup

Steve "Sergei Rachmaninoff" Boyles

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