Gone too long. B5 CCG, Hello, Old Friend... let's talk starting hands

Ah, real life... two days of traveling for work that were separated by only one hour from two days of traveling with family.  Now I've returned to B5 CCG.  Schedules and my travels have conspired to leave us with no lunch games this week, but I've decided to continue my posts on tips and tricks for veterans players and also some advice for new players when it comes to choosing a starting hand.

This is part of the game that some seem to treat with only casual regard, "grab some good cards from your deck and off you go".  I, however, feel that you build your entire deck around your starting hand and your starting hand is chosen while considering every other card in the deck.  Now I'd encourage every group to have a standing policy of announcing your deck a day or two before playing... just let others know what faction/race and if there'll be Shadows, Vorlons, Drakh, Psi Corps, Home Faction, Crusade Pile, B4,  or Nightwatch featuring prominently in your deck.  I know some will disagree, but having two Shadow players show up and no one else thought that would happen, can ruin the fun of a game, as can 4 Minbari and no Humans, or the like.  In a ruleset where only 2 people can bring a certain faction to the table, communication is vital before the game even begins.  Nor do you want to play the shell game and ambush people with a deck that no one prepared for (like a B4 or Psi Corps) that can ruin wild if unchecked.

The Starting Hand

Of course, you need to put some heavy thought into this.  Here are a few things to consider in picking those 3-5 cards to accompany your ambassador


What does your ambassador do?
In looking at the ambassador you've chosen, what does he/she do best and what will he/she be doing at the end of the game.  Are they a filler while the Drakh run everything?  Are they an intrigue/diplomacy/leadership/Shadow War/psi/etc monster?  If your ambassador is going to figure heavily into your plan to win, do these cards support that end goal?  So often I see cool upgrades or a nasty event, or a powerful fleet included in a starting hard... but they don't directly help the deck/player win the game.  What a waste.  Cards either move you towards a win, keep someone else from winning, or take up space and dilute your deck.  No where is space more vital than the starting hand.  Fun cards are fine for friendly games, but if your experiences have been less than satisfying, look long and hard at how well your ambassador and your starting hand is working towards the same goal(s).

Are there cards you must have in hand to win?
If so, consider putting them into your starting hand.  Now, if there are 10 planets you need to win (Defense in Depth) or 2 different events that unlock other cards (any mark based deck), seeding multiples of them into your deck may be good enough.  But, if that one rare card that you only have two of will need to show up in 20 cards to win you the game, maybe you should have started with it. Yeah, it make take away your character enhancement/flagship/mean character/killer conflict, but if the goal is to get that card in play, don't take the chance of never seeing it, put it in your starting hand. I cannot count how many times a player looked at me and said "oh you're lucky, if I'd hand such and such in my hand, you couldn't have won".  Well if you could have anticipated that before the game began (and often you can't), maybe it wasn't luck that gave me the game.  Think about it.

Should you be using an early game agenda?
There are so many agendas that can give a strong deck a serious early game boost.  Whether that's sponsoring cards without tapping others, giving marks vital for the late game, providing win-able conflicts early one, letting you pull other cards into your deck, or reducing the cost of necessary pieces to your supporting cast, agendas need a long hard look for a starting hand.  So many of these starting hand agenda won't win the game, but they'll give you a huge lead and build up your spending pool/ supporting cards quickly.  Build Infrastructure is one of those cards, as is Military Buildup. Now you may need to seed 6 more agenda cards into deck to remove these once you've used them, but you should at least consider building your deck and starting hand around an agenda or two... one of which might need to be in your starting hand.

How soon can you get that card into play?
Just ask, speed matters.  Think long and hard about that 12 point card you put into your starting hand. It might be the right move, but how easy is it for you to get your influence (or at least your spending pool) up to that level?  Some decks fly to the early teens, others plod along and then use other means to win.  If that's the case with your deck, that starting hand card that ends the game still in hand may not have been the best move.  Starting hand cards are taking precious space.  I firmly believe that if a card isn't in play in about 13 turns (or you're waiting to put it into play then), it really needs to go somewhere else.

How reliable is that card in your meta?
You're looking at this great card, it really helps your cause, and it seems to easy to get into play.  But that Narn player over there reliably removes one enhancement a game and its an enhancement... so either have a plan, or find a card that actually gets into play.  Cards that are nerfed in your meta really don't serve a purpose.

Does this card need other cards to work?
Don't put Lorien on your starting hand without a plan.  No point.  I, for example, put Councilor Na'Far and the Euphrates Treaty in one of my starting hands.  Turn one, sponsor the conflict, gain 1 influence (no Centauri starting ambassador can stop it... and it doesn't hurt them), meet the requirements for the Councilor, upgrade for free, play aftermath of choice, and bam! a monster for the early game conflicts.  However, looking up a question, if someone decides its too big of a head start for the Narns, they could start packing a starting hand card that removes the conflict, or the like, and I've wasted a turn for nothing.  If that happens, new starting hand.  Vorlon Space or a Z'ha'dum are simple musts for starting hands using Vorlons/Shadows.  You need those marks for so many other cards.  Either seed your deck with cards that unlock your starting hand choices (which is a valid approach) or just put those other cards in hand.

In looking at a given type, which card is the most vital to have?
You love this one character.  However, you only get one character (besides your starting ambassador) in the starting hand.  Maybe that fun media character or that trolling Zathrus just isn't the best character for the starting hand.  Believe me, there have been many times I've stared at two cards of the same type, feeling like I need/want them both for my starting hand.  Tough choices, but the wrong one can bite you early and often in a game.

Is there synergy among your starting cards?
One card boosts your ambassador, another gets you cheaper fleets, the third helps you with conflicts. Well that's nice, but this game rewards decks that chain fire strong cards.  A starting hand that makes your ambassador Godzilla among bunnies, or instead makes your Mil 7 fleets recycles, or instead lets you spawn win-able conflicts at will is much much better.  You get exponential results from boosting boosts.  For the B5 CCG three cards that boost different things by two gives you one +2 boost at a time (nice, but meh).  However a +2 that improves a +2 that improves a +2 is like a +16 boost that drops like a hammer every turn.  One Chuck Norris is better than three Ralph Macchios (no offense Ralph).

Does this card count as a one of your starting cards?
There are cards (Crusade for a... Drakh Ambassadors, Non-Aligned second team, etc) that you can put in your starting hand, but don't count as one of those 3 choices.  Be sure you're aware of these and know when they run best in your deck/hand.  Also consider maybe using a Crusade Pile or a Drakh 5th column in your deck if they align well with what you're already doing/trying to do.

Is there a better ambassador for your deck?
With Severed Dreams and Wheel of Fire the amount of alternative ambassadors exploded.  Maybe a slightly weaker ambassador but a bonus card is better for you.  Maybe one of the Home Faction ambassadors runs your deck better than the B5 one.  Maybe your starting hand isn't helping much and Londo the Gambler is better for your Centauri deck.  Maybe all the hoops your jumping through to get President Sheridan in, just aren't working/worth it and Sinclair is the better choice.  Look your ambassador square in the eyes and see if they're the right one for you (well, eye contact with the Drakh can be unnerving, careful).

...wait for it ...wait for it

Is this better than your homeworld?
After you've come up with the perfect starting hand... are every one of those cards better than your homeworld?  Its the perfect parking spot for enhancements, gives you an extra +1 on influence gains from conflicts, and it can take the homeworld out of play for another faction of your same race.  Homeworlds are the golden standard that all other cards must be held to in a starting hand.  Often the answer is "yes, this card is better than that dumpy old planet", often its not.

Is this better than an upgrade to your ambassador?
After the homeworld test, I often add another one... is it better than a better version of your ambassador.  Transformer Delenn and Signs and Portents takes a starting hand from 3 cards to 7. That's huge.  As in look down your Minbari nose at everyone else and pity their backwater planets and miserly forces huge.  Many other variations of ambassadors can do other (though less horrific) things to the competitive balance of the game.  Consider them carefully.

Babylon 5 CCG Strategy... using marks

Well we call it strategy, but its as much tactics as anything (still calling it strategy though).  In teaching the game to a little over a half dozen people, I get quite a few questions about marks.  I like Strife Marks (and as a mostly Narn, or at least military, player, I appreciate them).  However they create quite a bit of confusion.  So here's a very basic guide to using the various marks to your advantage.

Strife Marks 
These are pretty straightforward (again, why I like them), every one of these a character or fleet has adds 2 damage to any attacks. Reminder: when you are attacked, they take damage from Strife Marks too.  Weapons, Enhancements, and Groups are usually the easiest way to add these to supporting cards... though aftermaths and events can let them in too.

Pro-tip: If your tension is below 3 (or some rulesets, below 4... but I recommend highly playing with 3) with the faction in question, you cannot attack during a conflict unless given permission by a card in play.  So if you're planning on stacking up massive Strife Marks, make sure your faction will be able to use them.  Also, if someone's threatening the use of Strife Marks and you're at "tension 1"... ignore them.

Destiny Marks
Almost always a good thing.  These are the kind of marks that trip new players up.  By themselves, they do nothing (well, they look pretty in the bottom left corner of the card).  However, other cards allow them to do all types of things.  Examples: add power, add to stats, score Major Victory, score a Standard Victory, provide opposition, purge to repair/return to hand/heal, etc., sponsor certain characters, discount to costs, as I said, all types of things.

Pro-tip:  Either use them very lightly to unlock one or two nice little bonuses or go all in. Destiny Marks should either consume less than 5 cards in your deck, or be a/the major mechanic that makes your deck tick.  If you try to go in half way, all you're doing is diluting whatever else your deck can do.  It's good to have a backup, but backups need to be clearly subordinate to your deck's primary strategy to win.

Doom Marks
Almost always a bad thing.  Much like Destiny Marks these do nothing unless another card comes into play that activates an effect.  Things like taking damage, rotated for no effect, opposition to your own conflicts, influence spent for no gain, forbids use of other cards, discarding cards in hand, purging other marks, can come from Doom Marks.  Though not necessarily the opposite of Destiny Marks, they kinda are.  There are a few cards that can use these to a positive effect, but they are few and far between.

Pro-tip:  Use with caution as these guys usually cannot be purged or converted (there are exceptions).  You'll probably get away with it the first time you take a ton of Doom Marks to gain other benefits in game.  However, once you do this (or see someone else do it), be aware that the meta will shift fast.  Everyone will start tossing in a few cards to make Doom Marks hurt (and there are plenty).  I'd actually recommend only including a card or two that punishes Doom Mark usage until you see it used to good affect in a game... after that, salt to taste.

Sub-Faction Marks (Shadow/Vorlon/Conspiracy and more)
Again, typically do nothing unless another card says different.  These marks are usually a major part of your deck... or not in it at all.  Most of the time either purging them or accruing them allows other cards to come into play.  If you're wanting to bring in Drakh, Shadows, Vorlon, Nightwatch, Psi Corps, and probably something I'm forgetting, you need to be able to generate these marks in excess and quickly.  Typically agendas and events are your best bets for these.

Pro-Tip:  Consider cards that will provide a means of producing these marks every turn for your starting hand.  If your entire deck is fueled by a given sub-faction mark, you need to get on building them up on turn 1.

CAUTION!

Beware: For all the above marks, just knowing how to get/use these isn't enough.  Know what cards can be used to put the hurt on someone who uses them... they're out there and you need to either plan on them hurting you, or plan on using them to slow down others,

Babylon 5 CCG House Rules: Stacking it in the House's favor, or good for gameplay?

BTW: what a typical Crusade blind-side min/max card

As I look at the game and how it will play in our little club, I have to wonder if we should have a few house rules.  Most of these were taken from the only tournament I ever played in.  They were designed to speed up play without unbalancing the game.

Ambassador assistants not in the starting hand go into the Inner Circle when sponsored

Enhancements do not require sponsoring

Any agenda change cannot win a victory on the turn the new agenda was put into play

Start the game by raising all influence to 7 and letting everyone draw 4 cards
                                                         or
Only sponsoring and building influence for the first 4 turns, play is simultaneous

  Just looking at them they all seem reasonable, and I don't see any major downsides to them.  If everyone is aware of the house rules while building their decks, it seems fair to me.

Another thing I noticed on older tournament AARs around the interwebz is the use of side decks. Does anyone know what the established norm for this was (if there was one)?  I assume this would have to also include any ISA or anti faction specific cards?  20 card limit?  Just curious.