This is the first in a series of throwback articles. These were originally posted to Deciphers Page and Forums. Credits will be given when I can locate them.
Trying to get gamers to pick up a new game can be a difficult, believe me I know. With a low number of players in my area I run a lot of demos to try and recruit new players and the excuse that I hear most often is that people don’t have the money to get into a new game. With WARS this is no excuse at all, because the game was designed with draft in mind and many of the most powerful cards in the game are common or uncommon so, it is quite possible to build a tournament-worthy deck with only a few rare cards in it. One deck type that can win games built out of mostly C/UC cards focuses on the low cost Earther and Shi Kizen, and the beatstick that is Chindon Relk. This guy has turned a lot of heads and he's always a good choice in draft; Relk gives you extra attrition all by himself, but when you put him down on a planet that has other Kizen running around, he is a sure way to clear a site. Although this strategy is very strong there is another great deck that you can build with only a few rare cards involved and that is the deck we are going to look at today.
Locations:
1 Alnak Station/Captured Base (starting)
1 Alnak Station/Launch Bay
1 Phobos/Disputed Territory
1 Ganymede/Vantage Point
2 Ganymede/Traginium Source
4 Ganymede/Frontier Camp
3 Ganymede/Hunters Camp
1 Ganymede/Pilgrims’ Camp
Ships:
2 Luhustika (rare)
3 Chuluktika
4 Racing Sloop
2 Deft Attacker
2 Encroaching Hekaton
2 Sitkatika Hekaton
2 Death Dealer
2 Rugged Empty
2 Zocho
1 Tahka Assault Craft
Units:
2 Rakat
3 Quay Navigator
4 Gongen TSV
Interrupts:
4 Overburdened
4 Expansion
3 Attack Plan
2 Fifth Ace
Assets:
2 Aggressive Stance
This great deck has only one rare card in it but it is for the best as a few copies of Luhustika will help your drains immensely. The key to this deck is Chuluktika, the activated ability on this card lets you bounce your vehicles all over the planet as many times in a turn as you like as long as you have the energy for it. Start out by drawing cards until you have gotten some of your support icons out and a few ships in hand. Take strong hold on the Ganymede system (you have lots of ships that can destroy/damage other ships so it should be no problem holding down this system). Then, in the control phase, bounce your vehicle over all the Ganymede sites draining at every one, with Luhustika on the table these drains will add up fast. Always save enough energy left in your pile so that if the opponent deploys and tries to engage your vehicle you can move it away with Chuluktika, make sure you move away in their deploy phase because you cannot use your ability in the battle phase.
Attack Plan is included to invert your Rugged Empty to get an extra drain at Ganymede/Traginium Source, or it can be used with the Racing Sloops to destroy any infiltrator ships that may be blocking your drains. Phobos/Disputed Territory should not be deployed unless you know they are playing very little space and you can be sure that you can hold it as well as Ganymede, otherwise it may come back to haunt you as your opponent retrieves off your site. You should encamp Ganymede with a Maverick encampment so that you can invert your Death Dealers there. The Quay Navigators are included to block any large drains your opponent gets going and are safer than using the infiltrator ships because they are not vulnerable to Pursuit Just Behind. Some people might be afraid to build a deck without the safety of Trumped, but the interrupts in this deck are not vital to your game plan. Fifth Ace can come in handy when you need to invert your Sloops and Attack Plan is also helpful, but neither of them are critical. Aggressive Stance will hinder your opponent without hurting you any so it is a nice card to add in as well.
A high amount of energy activation is crucial for this deck in order to do a good amount of damage with drains on your turn and to prevent your vehicle from getting a beatdown on the opponent’s turn. Once you are up and running you should be activating 12-13 energy off your sites alone, but if you find that is not enough you can always make room for Rising Morale to boost your activation. If you find you need to kill the opponent faster then Revenge is a great uncommon to do some direct damage, or you could use the Gongen Traginium Cache asset to help you in this area.
If you can get a few extra rare cards then Alnak Station/Hallway is a good one to have as well as Alnak herself. You could swap out some ships for a small ground force and hold down a site with Alnak on it to give your opponent even more pain from your drains. This deck is a great example of the power of commons and uncommon cards in WARS and should be a great reason to get people into the game even if they say they can’t afford it. As you can see, it won’t cost a lot to build a tournament competitive deck. Plus, it is always fun to watch your opponents face when they realize that their deck full of Jacks and Gamblers just lost to a deck with only one rare in it.
Play around with it and change it until it suits the needs of your area, and always have fun.