KLINGONS!!!
The Mystery Writer

Now that AMS is erreta'd, and the use for all the Klingon folder fodder is no
longer here.  It leads the STCCG player to one very fascinating question:  Are
the Klingons Dead?
        To find this answer the advanced player must look at it from all different
perspectives.  But the main view point being of course, how the player intends
to score points.
        After my first 7 packs of Dominion (yeah, I'm bored waiting for my packs, and
grounded right now), I see nothing that is of any use to the Klingon
affiliation.  Another wasted set on new affiliations, as has been the case since
First Contact, and a way to strengthen the Cardassian Ore Processing deck.
But what  do the Klingons need?  It is my stance that they need nothing.
Back when the First Contact expansion was first released, the Romulans were
considered by most players to be the weakest affiliation, but the truth was,
the Romulans were the strongest affiliation, as proven by the decks played at
worlds (yeah, there was that one colony deck, but that was an outlier, sorry
Brad).  Then came the Patrol Neutral Zone mission.  It redefined the Romulan
affiliation.
        Is all the Klingons need is a mission or two.  No!  Rather they need
nothing...  May I repeat myself, because it is worth staying.  They need
nothing...  You must think I have gone out of my mind, but I haven't.  The
Klingons have all they need here.  Why not play the way the Klingons were
meant to be played?  As far as the Klingons are concerned mission solving is
for treacherous Romulans and the puny Federation.
        I remember the day when the Klingons ruled the tournament scene.  But I feel
sad to say now we rarely see a Klingon deck at a tourney, and I have yet to
hear of a winning Klingon deck since the AMS doomsday.  Sure the one skilled,
swine of mission stealing was all right, if matched with the puny blue
bordered humans.  But when was the last time you saw a Klingon only deck?  I
ran up against one at my regional in my first round, but it was a AMS deck, my
opponent relied on all the one skilled monsters.
        Is that what the Klingons have come down to?  Do the Klingons have a use in
the tourney scene today?  They do, they do indeed!  The Klingons can be the
most potent affiliation out there.  To see where the Klingons fit in, the
STCCG player must first look at the metagame, and then look at that in the
world Decipher intended the Klingons to do.
        The metagame:  The Bajoran Attach deck, the Orb deck, the gamma solver deck,
the Romulan six PNZ deck, the LocaR'mor deck, the Cardassian Ore Processing
deck, the Rouge Borg deck, the Field Trip to Montana deck, the Wormhole cheese
deck, the Borg Swarm deck, the Borg Cube deck, the multi-cube deck, the MMC
deck, the NA deck, the Plans deck, the Federation Space deck, the AMS mission
stealer deck, the Black Hole deck, the Q's Planet Colony deck, the Holo deck,
the ATA deck, and the Thought Fire deck.
        Is there something wrong with this picture?  I believe so.  In all the
strategies mentioned above, none are Klingon.  While I grant you I guess the
Klingons could run a fair thought fire deck, it is better done with the
Federation's use of their Empaths and Guinen.  Do any of you even consider the
Klingons a "worthy" affiliation in the game?  When you sit there and build
your tourney deck do you even remotely consider the Klingons a threat to you
strategy or even more, do you consider using them?  Yes, I said the sinned
words, I suggest that you use the Klingons!  Don't be afraid.
        But how can the Klingons stop all the metagame above?  I ask you, can any
deck, truly stop all the strategies above?  One would need a thousand card
draw deck, and would have to draw the exact 7 cards to match his opponents
strategy to pull this off.  Not likely, rather the true deck builder should
worry about how to stop 90% of the metagame and not worry about that outlier
deck.  In a tourney of 6 rounds (take a regional set up), all you have to do
is win five of the six games, and if you lose to the outlier and then play him
in the final game, you should know how to neutralize his strategy and win.
        All the cheese metagame can now be beat with either seeds or the Goddess of
Empathy.  Just how many seeds do you want to devote to stopping every strategy?
If you don't feel mission stealing has taken a big hit from the threat of Fair
Play then seed one, but if you do feel that mission stealing is gone, then
don't.  Seed Wormhole Relays if you are afraid of wormholes, but if you feel
that fear will keep them in line, then don't.  It's like this, with the threat
of The Line Must Be Drawn Here, do the majority of people stock a big amount
of counters?  The answer is no, but when was the last time you actually saw
TLMBDH used?  Same with mission debriefing.  The one turn win is gone.  Games
are longer, but why make them that much longer, when the Klingons can win is
ten turns!  Yes, I say, my Klingon deck has either won after ten turns, or it
will most likely lose.
        It loses not to the fact that it is out of cards, but rather, that if it
hasn't won by ten turns, then your strategy has been neutralized and I'd
actually need to solve two or three missions.
        I once asked a online friend, who has always played Klingon, even well into
the FC era, but then finally dropped them, why he quit with his favorite
affiliation.  His reply was one I have taken to prove wrong, "The reason I
don't use Klingon any more is that there are better affiliations out there.  For
instance the Bajorans are better attackers, and the Romulans are better
mission solvers."
        But today I saw a revelation.  Not from the Lord, but rather, I was
brainstorming decks in my 3rd period stats class, and I saw something.  The
Klingon Borg Hunter!  It hasn't been used since worlds in 97.  My friend Todd
Soper, used a federation hunter very similar to the one I use today.  It
revolves around the same principle, that the husnock ship is key (even more
now due to the new docking rules), and to burn through dilemmas at one
mission, grab a cryo with a few AU personnel, and a Kurlan.
        So I sat down after school in my room, and looked at all the possibilities for
the personnel to fit my Kurlan combo.  First I picked the obvious personnel,
Lore.  He has Security, Civilian and Engineer.  After quickly selecting a
target mission for my cryo, I pulled the personnel to solve it, and realized I
lacked one key personnel to my Kurlan combo, a VIP.  But I quickly looked to
my AU set and pulled Gov. Worf, to put into the cryo, and complete the 7
classifications.
        So without further ado, my Klingon deck, to prove Klingons aren't dead:
Missions:
Seek Life Form
Survey Mission
Investigate Alien Probe
Warped Space
Samaritan Snare
Explore Tyson Expanse

*Oh no, there are 6 space missions there, where are the two planet missions?
Is ask you this question in return, when was the last time you saw Balancing
Act.  I must be the only person who use that dilemma anymore.  I feel the
threat is no completely gone, but as I will explain later 50 points shouldn't
hurt that much.

Dilemma's:
The Sheliak- Arms Deal- Clan People
The Sheliak- Odo's "Cousin"- Primitive Culture
Edo Probe- Lack of Preparation- Borg Ship
Dal'Rok- Shaka, When The Walls Fell- Maglock
Dal'Rok- Clan People- Shaka, When The Walls Fell
Dal'Rok- Cardassian Trap- Shaka, When The Walls Fell
Dal'Rok x2
Borg Ship x2

*There are the dilemma's, 6 sets of 3, notice that three are planet combo's
and two are space, and one it either.  This is easily substitutable with the
other seeds that are not built into the combo's.
*The Dal'roks:  They are there to stop Borg scout vessel decks, a great seed
against one, once they hit it, it is in play, thus they can't Adapt: NO it, due
to the fact that they don't re-encounter it.
*The Borg Ship's:  How else are you supposed to hunt Borg?

Artifacts/Facilities/Other:
AMS
Cryosatellite- Gov. Worf- Kurlan
Husnock Outpost
Husnock Ship
AU Door
Q's Tent

*I seed the Husnock Outpost at Sam. Snare, I do this to get a ship out
quicker.  On turn 1 I could, in theory, put down a personnel and staff the
Husnock ship.  I grant you that the Husnock ship isn't the fastest in the
world, but it is the only ship that can withstand a Borg Ship attach.

Q's Tent:
Koroth
K'ChiQ
Goddess of Empathy
Husnock Ship
Anti-Time Anomaly
Temporal Vortex
Dathon
Scan
Red Alert!
The Devil
Q's Planet
Regenerate
Reflection Therapy

*I'll explain why every thing is here, after I reveal the draw deck.

Draw Deck (32):
Events (9):
Red Alert!
Kivas Fajo - Collector x6
Goddess of Empathy x2

Doorway (4):
Temporal Vortex
Q's Tent x3

Interrupt (11):
Q2 x4
Scan
Distortion of Space/Time Continuum x2
Palor Toff - Alien Trader
Energy Vortex
Wrong Door x2

Personnel (10):
Suna x2
Lore
Klag
Toran
Vekor x2
Dr. Regya
T'Kar
Nu'Daq

*Now that you've seen the whole deck, do you see how it works?  I doubt it.
Perhaps you think it is just a throw back to the cheese of pre-FC times, where
you just Kivas x4-RA-Drop.  Well to be truthful with you it is.  I feel Mirror
Image is not very widely used, so I can take a chance with this deck.  Let me
now explain a few reason's why certain cards are in here that you might
consider folder fodder:
Temporal Vortex:  Just in case you have to attempt the mission through the
Borg ship.  This doorway will suspend the Borg ship for 3 full turns, so you
can hopefully solve that mission, due to the fact that something has gone
wrong in your initial strategy.

Extra Husnock ship in tent:  "Hey, you said that the Husnock ship was
invincible, and nothing could hurt it."  That is still true, but the good old
dilemma, that I haven't seen since worlds in 97 can hurt your strategy more
that one would believe.  Can you guess this card?  It's Tysk. Infection.  With
this dilemma in place you will lack medical to satisfy the 7 classifications,
which even K'chiQ won't be able to attain.  But if for some reason you can't
tent for this baby, you can always download Ref. Therapy with Suna and change
someone's skill to medical.

Energy Vortex/Wrong Door:  You can score 45 points from Warped Space, 10 from
AMS (now bonus points) and then kill a Borg Ship for 45 and game, but this
will only hold true if your opponent doesn't play Intermix Ratio on table.
You opponent must tell you what they are selecting from their tent before they
pick it, so if they try to tent for a Ratio then nullify the tent, or if they
have one in their draw deck (not likely), then you should energy vortex if
back to their hand and make them play another card.  Also the Wrong Doors are
for Scorched Hands, because your hand will get fairly big.

The strategy:
        As stated above in the last paragraph, you want to score warped space for
45+10 AMS, and then nuke a Borg ship.  This should be quick.
        The first few turns, just Kivas, (if your opponent Mirrors it, then just draw
one, don't give them a card advantage) then after you come close to drawing
your deck out (should be 6 turns) play the Red Alert, which should fly due to
the 4 Q2's.  But if it doesn't, then let it go and tent for the extra or palor
the nullified one.  Then drop all your personnel (first scan Warped space, and
grab anyone from the tent if you need them), and move and solve Warped Space.
You should have 55 points.  Then next turn, play the Kurlan on your Husnock
ship, so if becomes a 18-27-36 ship.  Move back to Sam Snare and attempt and
hit a self seeded Borg Ship, and damage it, then destroy it after playing a
Distortion of Space/Time Continuum.  That is 100 points.
        Now if your opponent somehow plays the Intermix Ratio out, then you will have
to solve another mission, I'd suggest Tyson Expanse, due to Regya being able
to solve it all alone.
        If your opponent Balancing Act's you, then just blow up another Borg ship or
two.  You could go for a point dilemma, maybe take out one Dal'Rok and add a
Barclay's.
        This deck has 4 Science and 4 Medical in the draw deck, so you should be able
to get through the nastiest of combo's.  It also has two security in case one
gets Yuta'ed before a Barclay's.  In the event of a Maglock, you will need to
Tent for Dathon, he is your third officer with strength greater than 5. (He is
also in tent for the dreaded Shaka)  Other than that, just try to work through
all the other combo's.  I'm sure this doesn't pass every possible combo, but
it can pass and break any combo if you use the scan right.  Just scan then go.
Remember to play for the good of the Klingon Empire.
        Happy Hunting.
 

// Editor's Note: It might be a good idea to seed your cryo at someplace other than warped space, as your opponent will most likely either seed his best dilemma combo there or attempt to steal the mission.