Well we didn't use this card, but G'Kar was the Great Machine and then some on his own
Ok, Techno-Mage citizen G'Kar goes on the shelf, at least for awhile, at least for me. He tore through just about everything and tanked the rest. With over +5 to Diplo, Leadership, and 3 Strife and Destiny marks, Invisibility, all four Legacy contingencies, a couple nasty regular ones, and every techno-mage card in the game in play (except We're in Charge... I needed to pull a few punches), nothing could touch him.... And then it got better, I stumbled on The Tech on an empty Legacy deck just recycling contingencies and events. Combing this with Isabella, I was putting a contingency back into play a turn. Just wow. I could sacrifice serious boosted strike fleets and then salvage them back into my hand. For awhile the Babylon 5 War Council was up and running.... oh the discounts, oh the healing, oh the disposable, recyclable fleets along with recycling Protection and such... only catch, I had to be left alone until influence 35+ to be able to juggle all the flaming knives... but that's what happened.
My deck was based on having a Preeminent Defense in Depth, with techno-mages and Khari dancing around the planetary influence maypole. Things like "Rally the People" are pretty scary when you can throw 30 points of Elizabeth Trent, and 30 points of ready Diplomacy at it (with Narn, that's 5 influence from one conflict... add a contingency and you're at 6... hello late game push).
The Others:
Drakh (well a non-aligned front government): By far my real competition. So much Shadow, so many discounts, so many marks. Shadows probably averaged 3 influence every 2 turns for most of the game. Supposedly the Centauri were going to go to war and this deck was going to ride that wave. Would have worked, if Refa would have pulled the trigger.
Centauri (threaten war deck): A very nasty deck, but made four mistakes... needed two events to declare war on (in case someone shot one down), needed to get to war before the Shadow War (didn't, truthfully, was being nice as Earth was wide open), needed to concentrate on one foe and tear him apart, and needed to not talk smack to Citizen G'kar when he has an Exodus Fleet, all the above upgrades, and every techno-mage in the game boosting the Exodus fleet, along with the Hi-Tech weapons, a couple aftermaths and the Pride of the Kha'Ri... I think I was doing 28 damage and resisting or basing away 19 damage with the Exodus Fleet. Refa challenged G'Kar and he wiped two top fleets out of space with no lasting damage in return.
Vorlon (Minbari deck): Needs to be a bit thinner and generate a bit more influence on the Minbari side before bringing in Kosh. This deck ran a close third, and the Minbari and Non-aligned players did an excellent job trying to keep me contained. Man, I hate "You're Not Ready". Messes up all types of fun, and for 1 point generates 2 Vorlon Influence. That being said, I still think that this is the best deck I've built. Again the Minbari player had to come in late (turn 12 ish) and still was a contender and a major broker the entire game. I like how he runs this deck and I will definitely take his pointers on making it better.
Human (Earth Gov Senate): Good, but this deck just won't run. I gave it a higher character to card ratio than the Vorlon or the Narn deck and it didn't get them in until late.. too late. Its some sort of curse, either on the deck (I used it before and was tied for last) or the faction. I think next game I might hand off G'Kar the Machine to the Earth player and run this deck as mine... something's just not clicking here and I need to fix it/figure it out.
Notes to self:
I have a disease, the cure More First Ones, another Isabella's Quest, a thinner Crusade deck, 2 more planets (don't know where I'll find them though, at 10 already) and We're in Charge could really make this deck hum... I think I'll hone it and then store it for a rainy B5 day (or pass it off to someone else in the club to enjoy).
We'll start another lunch game tomorrow... I think Neroon or Na'Far will be my deck of choice... or pass off Na'Far and play the Earth deck myself to see if I can get it going (probably not).
Possible suggestion for rebuilding the Human Deck....
ReplyDeleteThe humans really need a focus for the deck. I ran into this problem when we were all playing the game back in ye olden days... Namely being the target for Lee and his infamous Finish the War decks.
We are in a similar situation. With my nasty Shadow deck, the Centauri chunking some serious military into play, and the Minbari able to throw their weight around militarily... we are a very heavy military focused metagame right now.
I love that Earth really has the ability to do all the tricks, intrigue, war, diplomacy, and psi... but perhaps we should be instead of looking at President Sheridan... we should be looking at building a nasty Home Faction deck.
For Sheridan, you really do need to have at least one more supportive B5 focused character, either G'Kar or Delenn to help mitigate the usual aggressive natures of the other two... we almost have to count on the Centauri to always be aggressive and if the Narn are being aggressive, B5 faction earth needs Minbari support... which he is not getting... and if the Minbari are being aggressive, it needs Narn support... which he is not getting.
In essence, B5 Earth is a bad choice if you do not have a peaceful game going on that has heavy player interaction. Since I am playing the 'Doesn't Matter' vote, the Unaligned worlds are a non-element.
So, bounce it off of Jeremy here... With me playing a very aggressive shadow deck, I can actually get him the shadow marks he needs to pull off a Presidential Coupe fast... this is critical for a home faction deck.
Try to see if you can get a Nightwatch/Conspiracy/Military deck going... just in theory or hypothetical... something that can fight in the arena that we are playing in. President Sheridan is great but unless the ISA is actually going to be formed and there is actually players who will align behind him... he is kind of a hollow character. Vice President Clark on the other hand with support from characters like Bester and the Night Watch, with a strong leadership corps and the Senate, can chunk a lot of military out.
I know I had to pretty much do a lot of the tricks you did with your old Narn military decks to be able to survive the abuse of the Minbari/Vorlon combo so if you have a few spare repair yards and other things to help beef up his planets, toss them in.
I know that there are a few Contact with Shadows/What do you Want cards... a few shadow cruisers might help him out. The Shadow Upgrade tossed on one of his big fleets can go a LONG way. Between me and my stupid aggression and some help on his own behalf... that can really help Earth out in the overly aggressive atmosphere we toss around right now.
Even if all it is... is a shield in which he operates behind. He needs a bit stronger defensive line to hold against the tides of the Centauri and the rest of us.