Re: Mini-Article: A disgustingly powerful combo, and how to beat it... ... Neral ... [3/13/99 04:54]

>
> Here's a combo that I took to a tournament a while back, and have been playing since. It has been so powerful that I've had opponents concede that game after it. It's become so popular that other players in the area use it... or specificaly stock ways to get around it. It is:
>
>Qualor II + Magic Carpet Ride OCD.
>
> The secret is to make sure you seed Lack of Preparations first. If someone hits that while red-shirting, they lose 10 points. Since they then have to risk thier mission-solvers, they tend to send down a ton of people with them.

Most people have some way to stop themselves. I regularly stick 2-3 RBMs in a deck, or End Transmission, or occaisionally Emergency Transporter Armbands, all of which keep my mission solvers safe.

>That's when they hit The Higher... The Fewer. Usualy, that's all I will seed there.

THTF isn't that good of a dilemma, i loose 7 or 8 points. usually 3 missions gets me close to 150.

>Maybe one or two missions will also have Edo Probe, Blended + Shaka... When The Walls Fell for an additional 10 point loss, but that's a heft combo. The whole point is you let them take the mission, gain thier points... then you (the owner of the OCD) sends them packing to Qualor II... where all thier personnel will be put into stasis.

very seldomly will all they're personel go into stasis. Non-Aligneds are the best friends of Rommies, and make Klingons playable. The only affiliation that is likely to leave the Non-Aligneds behind is the Dominion, but then again, serious dominion decks don't touch the alpha quad.
>
>It was an easy combo to overcome; simply Assign Mission Specialists for Amarie and solve Qualor II by seeding no dilemmas under it. That is, until Fair Play came along.
>
>So, how do you beat it? There are at least 5 ways around it:
>
>1) Gamma Quadrent. Magic Carpet Ride only relocates on the same Spaceline, and Qualor II is in the Alpha Quadrent.

Great if your playing Dominion or Baj/Klingon T'Ongs. no one else solves missions in the gamma quad.
>
>2) Memory Wipe. Hit your own crew with a Memory Wipe, making them all NA. They are then free of Qualor II's red tape, and are free to leave.

Memory wipe is a good card to bring along anyway. if your opponent gets going quickly, slow them down. I like to stick one in the tent (if i have room)
>
>3) Only solve space missions. Of course, you might hit a Borg Cube or a Cytharians...

Space decks are quite popular, especially for the Rommies (The second strongest affiliation, IMHO)
>
>4) The Chadybris + No Archeology. If you can't aquire the OCD, it can't trigger. Of course, if you play this combo, you don't get to use The Picard...

or half the good Rommies. Chadybris doesn't really cut it anymore (and never really did)
>
>5) Seed your own Qualor II. By sacrificing one of your own missions in favor of Qualor II, you can override the text of Fair Game.

It works, but in a planet-based deck, i wouldn't want to waste a mission slot. You also have to get your Qualor out before your opponents.
>
>6) Not have a ship in orbit when you solve the mission. If there's no ship, there's nothing for the OCD to relocate. Of course, by doing that, you'll lose 10 points to Edo Probe + Crisis...

a few points lost isn't a big deal.

7. Play Borg. IMHO, the borg are currently the strongest affiliation. Against MCROCD/Qualor II, heres what they do:

-- The borg don't acquire artifacts without a survey drone.
-- The survey drone "may" acquire artifacts present.
>
> These, of course, are the easy ways. You can always go for a more destructive means. Anti-Time Anomoly + Regenerate will get your people back.. until thier next encounter with Steppenwolf. Or you can aquire a Tox Utath and blow up Qualor II (then Regenerate), ending the combo forever.

Both of these are unlikely. ATA is powerful, but most ATA decks aren't vulnerable to MCROCD/Qualor (they are either Holo or Borg), and Tox/Supernova went out of style before AU came out.
>
> In any case, it is a fearful "fate-worse-than-death" combo that can turn the tides of a game. But, why am I dissecting my most prized stradegy? {shrug} I got bored of it. Last tournament I entered, I got stomped by a number of decks designed specificaly to take out mine by using the Qualor II stradegy AND using ways around it. =)

I've never got hit by MCROCD/Qualor II, and for good reason, I Always take steps to prepare for abuse such as this :). I usually use speedy Ore Processors (Either Cardy or Rommie Empok Nor) or Borg Swarms, both of which foil this type of strategy.
>
> So, on a closing note, I'll leave you with this combo as food for thought:
>
> Qualor II + Issue Secret Orders. Have a nice day.

I agree that this is nasty. its probably better than MCROCD + Qualor II :)

Neral