Destroy Radioactive Garbage Scow. Hero of the Empire. I hate them with a
passion. I wake up at night screaming in torment because I dreamt of another
one of my amazing decks finishing with a score of (-30). They're vicious,
they're cheesy, and they're uncounterable...or so we thought.

Despite Decipher's failures to address one of the cheesiest strategies out
there, it can be countered. You can win. The road is slow and difficult, but
produces a victory nonetheless. So until Voyager's promised counter comes
out, this is how you can counter DRGS and HOTE.

Part 1: What is it?
For those of you lucky enough to have never encountered it before, a brief
explanation of this vile strategy follows. The point of DRGS and HOTE decks
is to deny your opponent points, hopefully finishing with a timed win at
worst, and a monstrous 100 - (-40) win at best. One seeds the combo dilemma
Female's Love Interest/Radioactive Garbage Scow at most or all missions. In
the beginning of the game, you complete the objective Hero of the Empire,
hopefully reducing your opponent's missions by 10 points. Then, whenever
your opponent attempts a mission, you watch as they encounter Radioactive
Garbage Scow. Your seeded Mission Debriefing stops them, and you play
Destroy Radioactive Garbage Scow, destroying their Away Team at planets and
reducing a mission's points by ten more at all missions. Combined with other
point reduction cards like 62nd Rule of Acquisition and The Higher...The
Fewer, this strategy sometimes makes it impossible for your opponent to get
100 points, even if they solved all 6 of their missions. Scary, huh?

Part 2: Identifying your opponent.
This deck type is a lot like cancer in many ways. Among them, the most
important part of stopping it is early detection.  Hero of the Empire can be detected in the seed phase, often when your opponent seeds the objective Hero of the Empire (duh ;-) ). There's not much you can do now, but tuck it in the back of your head.  DRGS is a little trickier to detect. If your opponent is using HOTE, there's a good chance DRGS is coming too; beware. Another good sign is few dilemmas (about 12). Your opponent is seeding many combo dilemmas and hoping to use DRGS to stop your mission attempts. Your won't be able to detect this strategy completely until you hit Female's Love Interest/ Radioactive Garbage Scow, or your opponent does something stupid, like Processing DRGS out of their hand so you see it or revealing Mission Debriefing early.

Part 3: Stopping the Strategy
Once you've identified DRGS/HOTE, you can take steps to counter it. Here
they are, in no particular order...
 

1) Play Borg: Here's one you can do before the tournament even begins. Borg
are unaffected by reductions to a mission's points (Even Assimilate Planet
specifies a point box showing 35, no matter how much it's actually worth)).
If you're really worried about DRGS/HOTE, simply play Borg and laugh at your
opponent as they struggle with your lean, mean Borg deck.

2) Steal Missions: DRGS/HOTE users, though hated and despised, are not
stupid. They usually do not have the seed space or courage to seed
Radioactive Garbage Scows at their own missions. This means that if you can
steal their Universal or High Point missions, you'll be turning the tables.
Now that you've taken the points from them, they'll regret taking them from
you if they have to steal missions themselves. If you can safely steal a
mission, this is the best strategy for stopping this deck.

3) Attempt Cautiously: When you see your opponent is using HOTE and suspect
they might use DRGS, wait! Take your time. Plan ahead. Their decks are aimed
at stopping you, not being speed demons. HOTE itself takes 3 essentially
wasted turns to set up. So calm down, and attempt with the smallest away
teams possible. Often, DRGS/HOTE will turn to dilemmas like Edo Probe and
The Higher...The Fewer rather than walls, and you can trip DRGS without
losing your entire away team. You'll still lose points, but at least your
away team will remain intact.

4) Stop HOTE: Unlike DRGS, HOTE can be stopped rather easily. Stock a
tricorder and go after the Tribble Bomb. Use Leck to eliminate Barry Waddle.
Revolving Door their AU Door to prevent them from Time Traveling to kill
Kirk. Attack their ship or crew. Whatever strategy you can use to stop HOTE,
do it. If you can't stop it, simply delay it. Another way to stop HOTE
rather effectively is to seed missions in the Gamma Quadrant where they
aren't affected. Obviously, this works most effectively with a Gamma Quad
Dominion Deck.

5) Goddess of Empathy: This Event prevents you and your opponent from
playing interrupts until the end of your next turn. DRGS being an interrupt, you get
a 2 turn window of opportunity where you can safely solve missions against
the rather weak Radioactive Garbage Scow dilemma. Unfortunately, it's an
Event, and takes up a card play and perhaps a Q's Tent.

6) Nullify Mission Debriefing: If you Ux their mission debriefing, they
can't stop your Away Teams when you hit Radioactive Garbage Scow. If you
move the Scow and the mission, then move away, your Away Teams will remain
intact. Alternatively, you can move the DRGS to your opponent's mission if
you can catch them sleeping.

7) Thermal Deflectors: They prevent your Away Team from being killed by
DRGS. Simple, isn't it? Of course, like Goddess of Empathy, they cost a card
play (and often a Tent) and you'll still lose the points.

So you see, it's still possible to win against DRGS and HOTE. Just hard. ;-)
These 7 steps will make it much harder for a DRGS/HOTE player to win against
you. The most important: # 3. Don't panic, take your time, and mind what
you've learned. Hang in there, and after Voyager it'll all seem like a bad
dream.

Like this article? You'll soon be able to find articles like these and
many more at the ST:CCG Dominion, a new website. Stay tuned for more
details.