What's in a Name?
(A window shopper's guide to deck archetypes)
By Greg Askew

From a STCCG standpoint, the Internet has been bigger than sliced bread. Card strategies, combo lists, and deck designs... all this information is available from the comfort of your home, and at the click of a mouse.

Like others, I use decks based on those I have found in the dark recesses of the 'net. This 'jump-on-the-bandwagon' approach has given me moderate success in tournament play: I soon discovered that decks play only as well as the person playing them. I needed to take a step backwards, and understand the type of deck I was trying to play. If I could see the reasons why cards were included, I could begin to understand the relationships between the different cards, and perhaps even use the deck more efficiently.

This is the basis for deck archetypes: I take an idea or theme, and work my deck around that theme, keeping the deck tight and focused. Fortunately, many designers now give their creations more recognized sub-titles, such as 'Fed Attack', or 'Cardy Process Ore'. These words describe more than just the objective of the deck; they define the type of group that this deck belongs to.

Let's take an example: the Black Hole archetype. Built around one card, the objective is simple - force opponent's ships into the Black Hole, trap opponents ships between barriers, maybe even move whole planets into the path of the Black Hole, leaving them for the great SLURPing in the sky.

There are a number of cards that you should consider for inclusion in this deck: cards like Universal Space Locations; ship stopping cards like Q-Nets; relocation cards like Wormholes, Blade of T'Kon, and Q.  These are building blocks of this archetype. With a structure in place, add support cards to enhance the effect: maybe use Gamma Quadrant missions. Add your Amanda Rogers and Q2's to block last-ditch efforts to stop your opponents from escape. Finally, add a second outpost or colony, and work from there.

What other archetypes are out there? Let's take a look:

Borg Swarm: I mention this first, because it is the basis for one of my own decks. The pure Borg Swarm deck has one objective: to report small ships with one or two drones on board to each end of the spaceline, scouting missions as quickly as possible. The missions usually belong to the opponent, containing Borg-friendly dilemmas that you seeded. The draw deck is 40% drones, 40% scout ships, and the remainder being objectives, gateways, Regenerate, Q-Tents, and other necessary cards. A seed deck containing Computer Crashes is also recommended.

Borg Cube Deck: The Borg cube takes a different approach to a victory by using the powerful Borg Cube vessels. Use the Queen Borg Cube and Ready Room door to download the Queen Borg, the Spacedoor and a universal Borg Cube, or use Retask to convert a Borg Cube dilemma into your own Cube. Add any of the drone-download cards to bring out additional drones, but be prepared for Computer Crashes: don't rely on downloads as the only way of deploying drones.
// Editor's note: of course, if you have Enhanced First Contact, you no longer need to worry about computer crash! ;-)

Process Ore: Usually part-Cardassian based, utilizing a Nor, the Ore Processing Site (with Security personnel), and the Process Ore objective. This deck is great for speeding through draw decks by granting two extra card draws each turn, and 'processing' the discard deck back into your draw deck. Add treaties, Red Alert, the Traveler: Transcendence, and Horga'hn for a fast moving deck.

Speed Deck: Speed Decks play fast to win quickly. Use cards like Traveler: Transcendence, Kivas Fajo: Collector, Red Alert, Palor Toff, Betazoid Gift Box, Regenerate and the Horga'hn to get ahead of the opposition, and hope they can't catch up!

Thief Deck: Like the Borg Swarm, the Thief likes to target the opponent's missions using predetermined dilemmas that can be easily overcome by your crews. A simple thief deck uses the Espionage series of cards and dilemma combo's that you canovercome with a devious set of personnel.
// Editor's note: with Fair Play, thief decks become remarkable more difficult to use!

PNZ Deck: Patrol Neutral Zone is a mission that has very few requirements, and whose points depend on the number of PNZ cards in play. Thus, with six PNZ cards, two outposts, the Assign Mission Specialist card, and two specialists, it is actually possible for two missions to be finished on turn 1, for a total of 120 points! Of course, this is slim, and can backfire, but with the right support cards, this deck can be lethal.
// Editor's note: be careful, because PNZ is a prime target for theft by almost any Federation or Romulan deck (though you
// can protect it from Feds with HQ: Defensive Measures

Attack Deck: The attack deck is especially useful for Klingon and Romulan affiliations. Built up of 7-12 ships, enough personnel to staff them (and finish missions!), and some events and interrupts to get the good stuff into your hand. The rest is simple: get the ships into hand, a Red Alert to get them into space, then attack opposition vessels and outposts! Space-Time portals are also useful to get ships back in the event of an Anti-Time Anomoly.
// Editor's note: Bajoran armadas are quite powerful as well.

Skill Deck: The skill deck takes a one or two personnel skills, and four to six missions based on these skills. Include ample personnel in the draw deck, to ensure there is no shortage of the required skills to complete the missions, and provide plenty of support skills to overcome dilemmas.

'Cheese' Deck: The 'cheese' deck has a somewhat more treacherous approach to playing a CCG. Normally this deck uses non-lethal cards, such as Wormholes and Rogue Borg to harass and annoy the opponent. Stocking ten or twelve Wormholes and the Montana time location is a good example, and potentially leaves the opponent's cards stuck, and not easily discardable. I also include other annoyance tactics in this archetype: dilemmas mis-seeding, for example.
// Editor's note: gamma missions are even more commonly used in wormhole decks; these are commonly known as "Field
// Trip to the Gamma Quadrent" or "Field Trip to Montana".  They are being countered in Dominion with the objective
// Operate Wormhole Relays.

That makes ten different deck archetypes! With only four or five lines describing each archetype, there is plenty of room for your own personal touch.  Have fun!

Editor's note: This is Greg's first article for WNOHGB; we hope he will write more in the future!