Brief Summary of deck:
This is a destiny/Martyr deck for the Centauri. Give
Londo a lot of destiny and doom marks, Marytr,
and win, switching agendas.
Simple.
Section 1: The Cards:
Aftermaths:
Martyr *2
Total
# of aftermaths: 2
Agendas:
Higher Calling *3, As it was meant to be
Total
# of agendas: 4
Characters:
Adira Tyree, Centauri Agent *3, Drigo, Lady Morella, Londo Mollari, Lord
Refa, Lord Kiro, Vir Cotto.
Total
# of Characters: 11
Diplomacy
Conflicts: Consolidated Position
Total
# of Diplomacy Conflicts: 1
Intrigue
Conflicts: Attacking Pawns *3, Black Market *3, Free the Souls *3,
Kidnapping *3, Sponsor Rebels *2.
Total
# of Intrigue Conflicts: 14
Military
Conflicts: None
Total
# of Military Conflicts: 0
Enhancements:
Prophecy *3, Covert Allies, Power Posturing, The Eye
Total
# of Enhancements: 6
Events:
Level the Playing Field *3, Hire Raiders *2, For My People *3, Destiny
Fulfilled *3, Popular Support *3, Underworld Connections *3, Victory in
My Grasp, For the Good of All *2.
Total
# of Events: 20
Fleets:
Colonial Fleet *2, Garrison Fleet *2, Utility Fleet *2, Deep Space Fleet.
Total
# of Fleets: 7
Groups:
None
Total
# of Groups: 0
Locations:
None
Total
# of Locations: 0
Total # of cards in deck: 58
Section 2: Strategy
Opening Hand: Londo Mollari, Martyr, Consolidated Position, As It Was Meant To Be
Opening Strategy:
The first few turns hold no special
secrets, build influence and try to get one of your other characters out.
If you get to 7 without finding another character in your hand, play As
It Was Meant To Be, then the next turn play Consolidated Position. This
will prevent those Doom marks from compromising Londo. See the variation
section if the group you play with doesn't tend to play with Skeletons
in the Closet and other nasty doom aftermaths. (They will start to, however)
Midgame
Strategy:
This is a fairly straightforward
deck to play: Play lots of conflicts once you have another inner circle
member, gaining Destiny and Doom marks. Be careful to note when the destiny/doom
marks are given on the cards.. And DO NOT WIN Sponsor Rebels.. you get
more if you lose.
The way the deck maintains its
ability to compete is closely linked to its destiny and doom marks: with
Popular Supports and Underworld Connections. These cards become quite potent
when Londo has Covert Allies and Power Posturing. Although not as
potent as they were when I designed the deck, you can still use Popular
Support to give you a significant boost on your Intrigue Conflicts.
And vice versa. Of course you need a good Destiny Fullfilled on Londo
to make him that much cooler.
Most of the cards I tried to
keep to a lower cost since there is very little way to gain influence with
this deck. This really shows in the fleets, but I think it's better to
have cheap small ones for fodder. For the Good of All lets you do
a lot with these lower costs.
Endgame
Strategy:
Keep careful track of how many
destiny and doom marks you have. When you're at 19 and you can somehow
get one more at the end of the turn (Raiders, playing a conflict w/ a doom
mark to gain, Prophecy, etc..), play some sort of conflict (so nobody complains
about the Martyr aftermath), and switch your agenda.
Weaknesses:
There are a couple weaknesses.
The first, as I see it, is that there is only one way to win - if something
happens to keep you from getting the Martyr off, it is quite difficult
to win - although not impossible, of course. The largest problems lie in
having a war declared on you, which is popular in other Destiny decks,
and Skeletons in the Closet and other aftermaths which target and remove(!)
Doom marks (which is the reason for the Consolidated position - but that
doesn't keep all of them from you), and Telepathic Scans (A previous version
had only one Martyr in it). None of these problems prevent your winning.
Section
3: Variations
This deck really needs to be
tailored to your group - changing the events and conflicts to meet your
individual needs. More characters can be nice, but beware of their costs.
Two Lord Kiros or Refas is a good idea. Also, increasing the number of
events could be advantagous, especially in longer games. Long Term Investments
can be particularly potent.
The problem is that by adding
cards, you prolong your game. Time is your advantage - you don't need much.
If the card count gets above 70, add an Imperial Telepaths or two so you
can move faster through the deck.
My original version had Lady
Morella in the opening hand - a situation I see as ideal since you can
make immediate use of prophecies, and you can start doing conflicts without
worring about finding another character. However, the threat of a Skeletons
convinced me to change it. If you do put her in your had, replacing the
conflict, add another consolidated position.
If you find yourself losing
wars, don't be afraid to add more fleets. Perhaps a Salvage Yard might
be better, however. Long Term Investments can help against losing too much
power from uncontested conflicts. Of course, the problem with wars is that
the other player might win if you take too long.
For a 4 player deck, add the
generic trade pacts and trade windfalls if you want.