[B5] Psi Corp Deck Designs (2nd Try)?
zo...@world.std.com
trail wont follow....
.
.
Now that the expansion has been out for a while are there any good Psi
Corps deck designs that anyone is willing to share?
Thanks in advance.
-->Z
--- a clever signature goes here ----
Bruce Mason
zo...@world.std.com wrote:
>
> OK, I posted once. I'll try again and maybe this time an inane banter
> trail wont follow....
The next issue of Black Omega Squadron, due out next week, will have a
basic Psi Corp deck in it. As you're probably not in the UK you'll have
to download a PDF copy. should be available at
http://www.prism-comp-tr.demon.co.uk/b5/webpage.html after Gencon UK
(i.e. 2 weeks time).
Bruce
Bruce Mason, ranger
Capt: Team Pump, the best B5 team in the universe.
"Get the hell out of our sheep."
Peter D Bakija
>>Now that the expansion has been out for a while are there any good Psi
Corps deck designs that anyone is willing to share?>>
As far as I can tell, the Psi Corps suffer from not being real good at winning,
but being really good at making sure someone else doesn't win. They don't have
any apparent "quick win" strategy that I have seen yet, so generally what I
have seen happen is they go along, slowly building influence, they manage to
piss someone off (as that is what they do best), so whomever they piss off
decides to throw all of their effort into screwing over Psi Corps, as Psi Corps
is already preventing them from winning. Psi Corps slows down, Psi Corps's
enemy stops winning, and then someone else wins.
The ideas I have seen work moderately well, in terms of actually trying to win
are starting out with Nothing can Stop Us, and then switching over to Support
the Mighty for the win. Another good one is using As It Was Meant To Be to give
Bester an infinite number of Destiny marks, and then converting those destiny
marks into influence or power in any number of ways. Both of these strategies
benefit from the fact that Psi Corps gets to play 2 conflicts a turn (Psi Corps
Intelligence and some card related conflict) that they are usually going to win
(who is going to have enough Psi to make the Psi Corps lose on a regular
basis?)
You can probably make a strong Psi Corps Intrigue deck, but I can't see how it
is going to be any more competetive than a plain, brown Centauri Intrigue deck.
Again, however, the Psi Corps suffers, on a vast level, from a serious game
design problem--they aren't real good at actually winning, but are *really*
good at deciding who isn't going to win. In any game with a Psi Corps deck,
unless the Psi Corps player decides to do pretty much nothing, one other player
is going to be arbitrarily removed from the game--his conflicts are all going
to end up on the bottom of his deck and his characters are all going to get
pre-emptively turned, demoted, or stolen. I have yet to see a Psi Corps deck
win anything other than a 2 player game (where the Psi Corps can win simply
because its opponent can't do *anything*--but it still takes the Psi Corps
player, like, 20 turns after hitting 10 influence to get up to 20 power), but
in every multi player game I have played involving a Psi Corps deck, the PC
deck makes an enemy early, both of them tumble down in flames, and someone else
wins.
Peter D Bakija
PD...@aol.com
"Isn't it strange, G'Kar? When we first met, I had no power and all the choices
I could ever want.
Now I have all the power I could ever want, and no choice at all."
-Londo
Allen Gould
Opening Hand:
Bester
Nobody Can Stop Us
Psi Corps Intelligence
The Dreaming
The idea is to get to 6 influence (trusting in pulling another
personnel), and start plowing away at Psi conflicts, gaining counters
for both the agenda and Dreaming. (Which works nicely as a defensive
card, I might add). Deck's short on actual Psi conflicts, and are
mostly defensive (Forget Something? is my personal favorite)
Alternatively, you can swap Dreaming for a teep (I recommend Talia
myself - Chen's damage just doesn't do much for me), and be more
reliable (but lose the Dreaming bonus).
In either case, Support of the Mighty supplies the win.
It's not a "fast" deck, but it's fairly reliable - you're going to win
those Psi conflicts (it's just too easy to kill off the other Psi, I
find), and every three turns go up one influence. With Bester playing
heavy (or Bloodhound, if you prefer), you can play defense while you
wait for the counters to pile up. Especially since practically
*everyone* in my deck counts for SotM. :)
--
Allen Gould <poo...@connect.ab.ca>
ST:CCG Ambassador (Ferenginar), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
The Ultimate ST:CCG Reference: <http://www.connect.ab.ca/~society/stccg/>
---------------
I shall stomp upon all who oppose me.
The stomping shall be swift.
The stomping shall be painful.
And I shall show no mercy in all my stompings.
Amen.
- "Stomp", from the Lunch Money card game
---------------
Edmonton ST:CCG Tournaments:
http://www.connect.ab.ca/~society/tournaments/
David Conner
pd...@aol.comANTISPAM (Peter D Bakija) wrote:
> zosa1 wrote:
> >>Now that the expansion has been out for a while are there any good
Psi
> Corps deck designs that anyone is willing to share?>>
>
> You can probably make a strong Psi Corps Intrigue deck, but I can't
see how it
> is going to be any more competetive than a plain, brown Centauri
Intrigue deck.
Actually, I think it could, and that Psi+Intrigue may be the most
effective Psi Corps strategy (though I admit that I haven't actually
gotten around to making one yet.) The key would be taking care of
potential threats to your intrigue with Psi (most likely, targeting
most of your Psi conflicts at the Centauri, and probably an Asimov
Laws at Tu'Pari and/or G'Kar), while relying on Intrigue (leveraged
with things like Secret Police to use Psi boosters) to gain actual
influence.
A related idea I've had is that the best "Psi Corps" deck might actually
be a *Clark* deck organized along those lines. Clark's already got one
Conspiracy Mark, and getting a bunch more doesn't seem too difficult.
Clark could sponsor key Psi Corps cards relatively easily, while
having free access to the usual Human Intrigue guys, and no
unusual hassles about sponsoring fleets and locations. Someone with
a focused Neutral Teep deck might be a problem (or perhaps not, since
Clark
and the Neutral Teep faction would have no particular reason to bother
each other?)
I think either idea is well worth a try.
One thing I've noticed in passing is that Psi Corps factions tend to
be pretty slow starters, having trouble building to 10 quickly even with
The Corps is Mother out.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Bruce Mason
David Conner wrote:
> Actually, I think it could, and that Psi+Intrigue may be the most
> effective Psi Corps strategy (though I admit that I haven't actually
> gotten around to making one yet.) The key would be taking care of
> potential threats to your intrigue with Psi (most likely, targeting
> most of your Psi conflicts at the Centauri, and probably an Asimov
> Laws at Tu'Pari and/or G'Kar), while relying on Intrigue (leveraged
> with things like Secret Police to use Psi boosters) to gain actual
> influence.
Definitely. Psi Corp intrigue based decks are, IMHO, much nastier than
the Centauri. Special Intelligence and Secret Police is the key and
Steal Skills for emergencies. My basic conflict pile for PC intrigue
decks is 3 Prey on the Weak, 3 Disruption, 2 Asimov Laws, 2 Sleeper
Personalities, 2 Mind Games, 2 Blackmail. I usually have a couple of
Secret Strikes to deal with WANI and win through Support of the Mighty.
Key big-hitter characters: Thirteen, Reprogrammer, Mathew Stoner (IMHO
the best intrigue character in the game), Sarah, Zak, Wade, Edgars,
Abbutt. If any of the good neutrals go elsewhere that's what your
Sleeper Personalities and Asimov Laws are for.
> A related idea I've had is that the best "Psi Corps" deck might actually
> be a *Clark* deck organized along those lines.
Definitely. Faster, stronger and more robust than the PC version. Also
don't overlook Sheridan as he has a purgable destiny mark and can launch
extra conflicts.
>
> I think either idea is well worth a try.
>
> One thing I've noticed in passing is that Psi Corps factions tend to
> be pretty slow starters, having trouble building to 10 quickly even with
> The Corps is Mother out.
I never use it. If going the Psi route I use Nobody otherwise I just
stick with Build Infrastructure or Muster Support. If you really have
to you can go for speed with Human agent + Rapid Growth + BI or Gordon +
RG + Muster Support. The first will get you to 10 influence on turn 4
the second gets you to 10 influence on first action of turn 5.
Finally if going the Clark route you can win without playing a conflict
pretty easily.
Bruce
--
David Conner
mas...@cf.ac.uk wrote:
> > I think either idea is well worth a try.
> >
> > One thing I've noticed in passing is that Psi Corps factions tend to
> > be pretty slow starters, having trouble building to 10 quickly even
with
> > The Corps is Mother out.
> I never use it. If going the Psi route I use Nobody otherwise I just
> stick with Build Infrastructure or Muster Support. If you really have
> to you can go for speed with Human agent + Rapid Growth + BI or Gordon
+
> RG + Muster Support. The first will get you to 10 influence on turn 4
> the second gets you to 10 influence on first action of turn 5.
>
> Finally if going the Clark route you can win without playing a
conflict
> pretty easily.
>
> Bruce
One tempting idea a friend had is a starting hand of Bester, Muster
Support, Psi Corps Intelligence, and Zack Allan. That one seems real
tempting to me. The Psi Corps faction seems to often have some trouble
getting inner circle characters early, but they can really push them
up once they get rolling, and make Zack an intrigue powerhouse....
Chris Hayes
>Mathew Stoner (IMHO
>the best intrigue character in the game),
My number one choice for starting card in any and all Human Intrigue
decks.
Mmm... William Morgan Clark, Muster Support, Matthew Stoner. It doesn't
matter what the fourth card is, your already the threat at the table!
--
Chris Hayes < Spanner @ larrrrrd . demon . co . uk >
B5-CCG Ranger for Sheffield (UK) and the surrounding area.
Visit my Babylon-5 CCG Website:
http://www.larrrrrd.demon.co.uk/gaming/b5ccg.htm