Hi.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I frequent deciphers message boards often, and post a column that until now had no official title.  Playing Star Trek for so long has given me a "unique" (others' words, not mine!) view on many subjects.

  I try in my posts to point out interesting facts about the Star Trek CCG, and odd uses for cards which may not seem obvious.  I am also very critical of Decipher, but make it a habit to praise as much as condemn whenever possible.

  My style is influenced by various media, and I like the "random point" method, as it eliminates long structured paragraphs, kinda like what I am writing now, for the points I want to make.  So, here goes nothing.  maybe we'll see this on wnohgb this month....

  I joked about it, but never thought I would actually go for it.  who knows....

  Played my Cardassian deck the other day, and I have to say, Plans Of The Obsidian Order/Tal Shiar Are Great!  Not even as a method of winning, but just intimidation factor!  Nothing beats it when your opponent has a carefully planned out spaceline, where he intends on doing x missions with y crew in z turns, and you just  steal a mission with ease, as YOU seeded the dilemmas!!  Just remember where that Borg ship dilemma is..........

  Stop First Contact.  Look for a lot of these.  The combination of a forty point objective along with population 9 billion - all Borg is devastating. even with Locutus as hard as he is to get, the deck is still fun. who knows, you could even put Add Distinctiveness and Assimilate Counterpart in there for some real fun.  A red probe?  Doesn't the talon drone have red......the first council of warriors, council of the collective?!?!?

  I find dilemmas strains are too repetitive lately.  I think Decipher needs to put out some new power dilemmas like the Borg Ship and the Sheliak.  species 8427.....(think Federation/Borg alliance in voyager!!)

  On that topic, what about One?  you KNOW he will be released in some form. will it be dilemma?  a federation personal?  maybe a non-aligned card who can "infiltrate" a Borg collective. Hero Of The Empire style use?  hmm.....

  10 11 12.  I REALLY want to play a deck to exploit these monsters.  they are the closest thing to a cube any non-Borg affiliation will have, except maybe for the afore mentioned species 8472, should a card representing a ship be released....

  I have to state one more time that raising the prices of anthologies which contain no packages from after the price increase is not fair, nor is it reasonable.  why should we be paying more for cards that are the exact same as ones from before, just in a new packaging?  I STRONGLY protest that one.

  Has anyone found that all-os decks destroy "conventional" dilemmas, but run in to a few odd problems?  Executive Authorization, Dead End, high mission spans, battle decks, Temporal Rift-happy opponent, Common Thief, etc.  makes you wonder if its worth it...

  Dr. McCoy has to be the most demanded card yet.  I have seen offers Involving the future enterprise, along with 5-10 other rares!  Wow!  Makes me VERY glad to have one I can trade...

  I am actually looking forward to Voyager.  No, really, I am!  I think Chakotay and Tuvok will be amazing, as their characters are just that, and I expect a few surprises that boosts the isolated mains, maybe "Explore DELTA Quadrant?" How about Neelix?  Really!  He could be better than anyone might assume.  and of course, Seven Of Nine will turn a few heads.  Not like that! What dirty minds!

  Not  to break formulae, but I have to end with my sincere hope that I get this put up on wnohgb.  I always enjoy feedback on my opinions, and others opinions as well.  I can be reached at anjohl@hotmail.com, and I usually peruse the decipher boards once a day.

- Gul Dukat