Maquis Invasion

This Strategy-Note article was written by Nathan Miracle and was published first on "Decipher's Website (decipher.com)" at Jan 22nd, 2007.

Do you remember that time the Maquis tried to steal the Genesis Device? No? Well, how about that time they tried to derail the peace talks with the Klingons? You don't remember that one either? What about when they went back in time to save the whales? Yeah, I don't remember that one either.

So the Maquis weren't in the movies at all. Fortunately for them, Genesis doesn't focus only on the movies. It also contains three great Maquis-related cards in Tuvok, Tom Paris, and Learning Curve.

Tuvok, Undercover, was never truly part of the Maquis. He's an infiltrator, sent by Starfleet to spy on the rogue group. But for gameplay purposes, he's just as much a member of the Maquis as Michael Eddington. Unlike the Cardassian infiltrator, Seska, Cardassian Agent, Tuvok has no drawback to using his skills, or any other part of his card. Instead, his gametext provides a boost when facing a dilemma. Specifically, he is attributes +1 and gains Intelligence.

While the ability to gain Intelligence is impressive (especially given that only Seska, Cardassian Agent and Luther Sloan, Man of Secrets have the skill for the Maquis without delving into Non-Aligned personnel), Tuvok's main advantage lies in his attributes. Of all the Maquis and Federation Treachery personnel, only B'Elanna Torres, Straightforward Engineer matches Tuvok's Strength and Sakonna, Gunrunner matches Tuvok's Cunning. A few other Maquis personnel have six Integrity, but overall that particular attribute is not a Maquis strong point.

While Tuvok excels in attributes, Tom Paris, "Starfleet Observer" excels in his gametext. Like Rebecca Sullivan, Resistance Fighter, Tom Paris has the ability to get a Maquis personnel back from the discard pile. He also has the ability to help you cycle through your deck by drawing two cards. The catch? He has to be stopped by a dilemma and you have to discard a card from hand to do either one. Discarding a card from hand may not be so costly, if you happen to have cards you cannot use at the moment. Getting Tom Paris stopped by a dilemma is the real trick. Make sure to choose to stop him anytime you have the option.

Even with these two personnel, the real must-have card for every Maquis player is Learning Curve. Just for playing two Maquis personnel during one turn (a common occurrence in Maquis decks), you get to place the top two cards of your deck on this event. Once there, these cards may be played as if they were in your hand... but they aren't actually in your hand.

What's the difference, you ask? Primarily, you didn't have to spend any counters to draw those cards. Each time Learning Curve triggers you save two counters, meaning the event has paid for its own cost in two uses. Also, you do not count these cards against your seven-card limit during your Discard Excess Cards phase. Lastly, if your opponent uses cards to influence your hand, the cards on Learning Curve will be immune. Sure, let your opponent use The Dreamer and the Dream to discard your hand, you still have up to nine cards sitting on your three copies of Learning Curve.

The trick with Learning Curve is the Decay: 4. You have to play something from Learning Curve before letting it trigger a second time, or you'll lose the event and everything on it. Of course, if you know you are going to lose Learning Curve, you could use Santos, Squad Leader to at least gain some attribute bonuses first. You may need to play non-Maquis personnel (or even non-personnel cards) for a turn in order to avoid hitting the decay mark. But if you play your cards right, you can effective expand your hand size by nine cards with little risk of losing any of the cards.