We used a rather standard fare house rule for us: game goes to 30 power instead of 20. Decks must be 60 cards, cannot exceed 100. Everyone insisted they were ready for a full on deck of mine and so I let my deck run. This is a game I should win, but since we have 5 players we agree that the game will go on and play for second place too, the winning player dropping out, but with States and Global effects still in play.
So, giddy up, NaFar shuts down everyone's tensions, dropping most to 1 by end game, quickly has 20+ power and uses destiny mark upgrades from aftermaths and to give NaFar stats in the teens in Diplomacy and Intrigue, 8 point damage reduction, and 8 points of automatic opposition to all conflicts. By himself he will end most conflicts before they start, denying influence gains probably half the time they are drid
With media cards and strong/cheap defensive fleets, there's not much that scares me and I soon drop out at 30 power. However the fight for second was quite interesting. The Centauri deck starts burning through cards, drawing four free cards a turn, and building a military that would have crushed the Narn, had we not already won and withdrawn. Neron powers up slow and runs second fiddle to the Humans and Religious caste. Psi Corp runs well, but too conservative, and the Minbari deck, right at 100 cards, is too cumbersome when the wrong cards keep coming up and just fizzles. In the end, they agree to play until someone runs out of cards and then call it. Victory Centauri, but I should point out that if they played RAW, the Psi Corps player, with more cards and a recycling conflict would have eventually won, and the Vorlon deck could have got second with an agenda that counts Vorlon-Shadow influence as power (so in this game an additional 20 some... though not until NaFar had already exitted stage right).
All in all a good game. The newer players got to see their decks run, and the Centauri players decided to build their own decks as the Psi Corps player is working on a Non-aligned deck on the side. Should be interesting next game. Na'Far will take a break. Maybe I'll bring out my (crusade free) G'Kar Defense in Depth deck. Its not ran around unchained for awhile.
