Section 1: The Cards

Aftermaths: None
Total # of aftermaths: 0

Agendas: Rise of the Republic x2
Total # of agendas: 2

Characters: Drigo, Emperor Turhan, Londo Mollari, Lord Kiro, Lord Refa, Mary Ann Cramer, Minister Malachi, Urza Jaddo, Vir Cotto
Total # of Characters: 8

Diplomacy Conflicts: Alliance, Rally the People, Trade Pact x3
Total # of Diplomacy Conflicts: 5

Intrigue Conflicts: None
Total # of Intrigue Conflicts: 0

Military Conflicts: None
Total # of Military Conflicts: 0

Enhancements: Covert Allies, Luxuries of the Homeworld, Planetary Defenses, Power Posturing
Total # of Enhancements: 4

Events: Affirm Alliance x2, Carpe Diem x3, Exploration, For my People x2, News of Galactic Import x3, Recalled to Service, Short Term Goals x3, The Price of Power, Trade Winfall x3
Total # of Events: 19

Fleets: Deep Space Fleet, Expeditionary Fleet, First Battle Fleet, Homeworld Fleet, Second Battle Fleet, Third Battle Fleet
Total # of Fleets: 6

Groups: Imperial Telepaths
Total # of Groups: 1

Locations: Centauri Prime, Ragesh III
Total # of Locations: 2

Total # of cards in deck: 48

Section 2: Strategy

Opening Hand: Londo Mollari, Mary Ann Cramer, Rise of the Republic, Trade Pact

Opening Strategy:
During the first four turns, build up to 8 influence. Then bring out Cramer and LOWER the Narn tension toward you.  Next turn put her in the inner circle and lower the your tension toward the Narn. Now you have not only eliminated a potential threat, but you have gained a trade pact candidate!  This is, of course, unnecessary if there isn't a Narn player.  In the case of the latter, bump your tension toward the Narns up to 5 for purposes of your agenda.  DO NOT PLAY YOUR AGENDA YET! On the following turn build up to 10 influence and get ready for some heavy heartburn because the lactose is 'a-comin'.

Midgame Strategy:
As soon as you've reached 10 influence, it's time to get the cheese on the cracker.  First, you'll need to play that trade pact.  I know there are some folks out there who really hate those, so you might want to hold off until you've got Turhan and/or Malachi in your corner. You'll need some Short Term Goals, The Eye, Affirm Alliance, or Ragesh III in order to get the Emperor out at this point, but he's worth the effort (he's almost as good as Cramer for purposes of your agenda).  As soon as you've got the backing, push that Trade Pact through.  Now the stage is set for some cheddar action.  Play all the For My People's, Short Term Goals, and Trade Windfalls that you can. Use Carpe Diem to grab back all of the Trade Winfalls as long as you can play them that turn (your enemies get pretty snarky and throw Commerce Raiding at you pretty quickly).  Also, get out the other Trade Pacts and try to get Centauri Prime out.

After your homeworld is in play, go ahead and play Alliance (with anyone you choose really, Cramer and Turhan can have the tensions in place) and Rally the People.  This way you can assure the optimal gains from your conflicts.  Finally, play defense.  If someone is coming at you with military, get your fleets out.  If someone is coming at you with Intrigue (snicker, as if a non-Centauri intrigue deck is going to scare
you) bring out Drigo and Refa.  Likewise with Diplomacy--Turhan, Malachi, and Urza are a diplomatic trinity not to be taken lightly. Also, if it's really looking bleak for the home team, a little News of Galactic Import couldn't hurt to give you a break for a turn.

Endgame Strategy:
All you really need is 5 extra influence.  With all the Trade Pacts/Windfalls, Short Term Goals, Exploration, and all of the other influence giving buggers this isn't much of a problem.  When you've got 15 influence and a tension at 5, play Rise of the Republic and score one for the Centauri.  They have risen to the helm of the universe with your help.  Try to keep it going for awhile, though. Tease it along.  After all, it's not any fun unless your opponents think they have a chance of winning.

Weaknesses:
There is one gigantic weakness in this deck, and it's a killer.  *WHINERS*  You'll hear SO much whining and carrying on from your enemies because you are playing with cheese that your head will begin to throb.  It almost makes you want to feel sorry for them, but then you'll come to your senses and beat them so fast they'll think your name is Tyson.  Their argument will be that you weren't interacting with the other players, but that's simply not true.  You need them for Trade Pacts and Alliances.  You'll probably need to try to kill a Commerce Raiding too.  It's just that you're being a good guy.  You don't need to hurt other people to accomplish your goals.  It's not a macho race to the finish, rather, it's a happy frolic holding hands all the way to the winner's circle (insert gagging, choking noise here).  Most importantly, it works.  Besides, if your gaming pals get too upset, you can just save this deck for after a big losing streak.

Section 3: Variations

After a couple of tastes of the above, people begin to put Accident into their starting hand.  So you might need to replace the opening Trade Pact with a Medical Assistance.  That way Cramer can get the help she needs after, say, being mistaken for Pak'Ma'Ra Chow.  I've also been thinking about a version of this with no influence giving cards and using three Long Term Investments in their place.  Coupled with the
Carpe Diem's it'd be an interesting shot.  After all, influence can be lost but power is forever (mostly).  If you have any variation ideas, feel free to e-mail me.
 
Section 4: Reviews/Commentary

Deck Review,
By Lorne Kates

First, allow me to introduce myself.  I'm Ranger Lorne Kates, an official member of Precedence's Ranger Program.  I'm also a vetran CCG player.  I've been playing CCGs for over three years now.  I've learned and played 12 different CCGs.  One of the best parts, I find, of playing CCGs is deck construction.  I love sitting down with a large pile of cards and picking not only the best cards, but making sure all the cards compliment each other in some fashion.  Deck building has always been 100% strategy.  So, I have talked to the propriator of the Deck of the Week page, and I will be reviewing the decks from now on.  Making suggestions as to the contents of the deck, highlighting flaws and bonuses of the deck, talking about the deck's stradegy, and giving my general impressions.

This is the first Centauri based Trade Pact deck I've seen yet.  It's very well constructed; it's lean, stays true to itself, and has almost all it's weaknesses covered.  The author shows that he has a fair amount of knowledge and experiance in both B5 and deck building.  I've made only a few minor suggestions as to the content of the deck.  Here they are:

>>Characters: Drigo, Emperor Turhan, Londo Mollari, Lord Kiro, Lord Refa, Mary Ann Cramer, Minister Malachi, Urza Jaddo, Vir Cotto
>>Total # of Characters: 8

I would add in Lord Valo.  He has fair stats in all three non-Psi areas (3/2/3), and has the ability to eliminate unwanted Doom marks from characters.

>>Diplomacy Conflicts: Alliance, Rally the People, Trade Pact x3

I think it's quite possible to live without the Alliance.  Between the Trade Pacts, Rally The People and all the events, there should be more than enough to get you to 15 Influence without having to help out your opponent.
 

>>Enhancements: Covert Allies, Luxuries of the Homeworld, Planetary Defenses, Power Posturing

The Eye!  Where is The Eye?  +1 influence and another Destiny Mark to feed to Short Term Goals... (I think The Eye was meant to be in here, but the author forgot to add it to the card list...)
 

>>Events: Affirm Alliance x2, Carpe Diem x3, Exploration, For my People x2, News of Galactic Import x3, Recalled to Service, Short Term Goals x3, The Price of Power, Trade Winfall x3

The Price of Power should be dropped.  It's a nice card, but by the only time somone will actualy kill off a character will be when they are going to win from the influence gained from the conflict this turn, or when they are playing a conflict which will yeild high influence that won't be played again (The Great Machine, Immortality Serum, Rally The People, etc).  This deck is so fast that the game won't reach that point.

As well, three Meditations should be added.  Every deck should have three Meditations.

>>Groups: Imperial Telepaths

Bonus points for realizing the amazing card-drawing advantage this card gives!

>>Total # of cards in deck: 48
After suggested modifications:  50

>>Opening Hand: Londo Mollari, Mary Ann Cramer, Rise of the Republic, Trade Pact

 I would replace Rise of the Republic with Trade Windfall.  That way you can instantly gain +2 influence when you hit Midgame.  This quite a number of card drawing cards in this deck, getting your agenda into your hand by then shouldn't be much of a problem.  (You can also replace Rise of the Republic with Imperial Telepaths to get the card drawing jump right away).

>>Opening Strategy: During the first four turns, build up to 8 influence.

A very good point has been made here.  Most people jump the gun and bring out thier first character (usualy the Ambassador's Assistant) as soon as they can afford it.  Unless you desperatly need them to pass a conflict (such as Non-Aligned Support) right away, wait until you have enough to both sponsor AND promote them on two consecuative turns.  If you leave them in the supporting row for a full turn, they are in danger of being neutralized (and discarded) before you can promote them to saftey.

>>DO NOT PLAY YOUR AGENDA YET!

If you have your Agenda in your hand by now, play it Hidden!  This will keep it safe from forced discards (Telepathic Scan, Percision Strike) or from being revealed in another way (Centauri Telepath or any other card that lets you look at your opponent's hand).  Since it's hidden, it's safe from Forced Impairment.
 

>>Midgame Stradegy:
>>Play all the For My People's, Short Term Goals, and Trade Windfalls that you can...

Note:  Only play a For My People if you have a Short Term Goals in your hand, and you've already purged the marks from Londo and The Eye.  No need to have your ambassador tied up for a whole turn healing from that bungee jump...
 

>>Also, if it's really looking bleak for the home team, a little News of Galactic Import couldn't hurt to give you a break for a turn.

Especially if someone is playing Blockade or Crusade...

>>Weaknesses: There is one gigantic weakness in this deck, and it's a killer.  *WHINERS*

{grins}  Aside from that it does have another huge weakness.  The Great War.  If that begins, there's not much chance of winning.  The absolute most one can get from this deck would be 27 influence (32 power).  You need to be able to have 10 more than any other player after The Shadow War has started.  Since the player who actualy started it will have between 26 - 36 power (from thier Shadow/Vorlon Major Agenda), any hope of victory will go down the drain.  Perhaps stocking a single Infiltrate and Explot, or a Knowledge Is Power, will help.  You can replace your agenda, start winning 2 influence a turn (via your Homeworld), and play the second Rise of the Republic when ready.

As well, your standard Narn War Machine deck will have it's teeth buried so deep in this deck's throat you'll need a proctologist to pry them loose.  The NWM deck usualy goes like this:  Turn 1 Border Raid (Centauri-Narn tensions go to 5).  Turn 2 Declaration of War.  Turn 3 Colonial Fleet.  Unless you have a fleet by then, you'll be losing one influence a turn.  Since you won't have Mary Ann Cramer in your inner circle until turn 6, you'll only be able to build 1 point a turn.  Lock down.  If you know you're going up against a Narn War Machine deck, instead of Rise of the Republic (or Trade Windfall), have either Universe Today Feature (play it Turn 1 to lower tensions to 3, so that Border Raid only brings to it 4, too low for Declaratin of War), or Not Meant To Be to reverse the Declaration of War when it is played.  In either case, it will slow the Narn player down while they wait to draw another tension raiser / Declaration of War.

>>Section 3: Variations
>>After a couple of tastes of the above, people begin to put Accident into their starting hand.  So you might need to replace the opening Trade Pact with a Medical Assistance.  That way Cramer can get the help she needs after, say, being mistaken for Pak'Ma'Ra Chow.

Keep the Trade Pact and replace the Rise of the Republic (or Trade Windfall) instead.  This way, Ms. Kramer is still alive, and you know you have +1 influence on it's way.

 As for the Long Term Investment suggestion, an interesting idea, but it would not work.  That would mean removing the Trade Pacts/Windfalls, Exploration, The Eye, Rally The People, Alliance and Short Term Goals. You would then be struggling to get out the only six cards that can get you the power you need (Long Term Goals + Carpe Diem).  If someone starts the Shadow War, pack up your cards and leave.

General Impressions:  A very well built, solid and extramly fast deck. One that can stand up in a tournament, without a doubt!