DECIPHER.com > Star Trek > Expansions > Reflections 2.0

Fact or Friction?

by Justin Beal

Fact: When I play personnel to my headquarters, they are able to staff ships, execute orders, and otherwise be useful on this turn.

Friction: Not any longer!

Friction is a new event for the Dominion that illustrates just how hard it can be for new personnel to get their footing when at war with the Dominion. Why could that be? Well, you have Jem'Hadar that can shroud, Founders which can get anywhere and be anyone, and Vorta who are the mouthpiece for the Dominion, giving cover to their operatives and scheming behind the scenes. So I ask again, what is there to be afraid of?

This new card says that every personnel that comes into play who is not a Jem'Hadar is stopped. The surface effect of this card is simple; it means that those people cannot do anything this turn, and you might be asking, "So what? That doesn't seem too important…" Well, let me take it to another level for you. You cannot target or command stopped personnel. This means if you need to command three [Rom] personnel in order to play an event, it cannot target people you have played this turn. Or an Interrupt that requires you to command three [Baj] personnel cannot target any personnel you have played this turn. This also applies to keywords. Prejudice and Politics won't have a Senator or Praetor if you have only played one this turn. Convinced yet? Here are a list of some of the people that will have to wait to use their gametext: Assassins, Borum, The Viceroy, Benjamin Sisko (the Emissary). Naturally, there are even more.

So, do you think stalling your opponent by a turn is useful? This is just scratching the surface. If you are playing a deck that focuses on killing personnel, this card can just about gain you two or three turns. Unfortunately, this event hampers your personnel as well as your opponents, but most of the personnel you would be playing are Jem'Hadar, and they are not stopped. You (the Dominion player) can fly to and battle or attempt missions at your leisure, while I am stuck at my headquarters. With the release of another Command-icon Jem'Hadar, it could be possible to play an entire Jem'Hadar deck (since you won't need those pesky Vorta or Founders to staff your ships), in which case you would never be stopped by your own card.

While Friction doesn't create any massive combo to lock down your opponent, what it does do is slow them down significantly. If it forces an opponent to re-staff a ship more than once, it could grant you an advantage of a turn or two, and in this game, one turn is all the advantage any player needs.

Enjoy!

November 24, 2004