I love reading about and playing against different twists to the Maquis experience. I appreciate the fact that not all Maquis-style decks are cookie cutter or identical. Due to their functionality, there are certainly some core cards that almost "always" make an appearance in a Maquis-themed deck (i.e. a Cal Hudson, Thomas Riker, etc.), yet Maquis players can build their decks with different mechanics. Generally speaking, a standard Maquis deck will be centered around "hand disruption" and to a lesser degree, "play counters/deck/event disruption." However, from time to time an innovative mechanic can find its way into a Maquis deck, and it can be glorious!
On June 4th, 2011, during the Kevin Reitzel Bounty tournament, I had the sincere pleasure of playing against one such innovative Maquis deck (see it here). Matt Kirk (CaptMDKirk) laid out his Athos IV, followed by four Region: Neutral Zone missions. Having explored some deck ideas centered around low-range Condor-class ships "patrolling" NZ missions, I was excited to see what Matt's Maquis would do. The fact that I was playing a new Romulan deck added some additional flavor the game play as well (traditionally, my Romulan decks have favored poorly against Maquis). Matt and I each spent our first turn 7 play counters on ships: he with his U.S.S. Defiant, Stolen Warship and me with the almighty Soterus. Unfortunately, my Romulans were not up for engagements, but the U.S.S. Defiant would soon be full of surprises.
The true strength of Matt's deck came from his utilizing Captain on the Bridge, U.S.S. Defiant's matching commanders (six of them... there should be at least one more via Captain Nog, and why did Decipher fail to give Mirror Defiant any matching commanders?!), and the hefty Captain's Log. De-staffing Matt fell short due to CotB's ability to report folks directly to the ship, as did random selections of dilemmas faced at space missions (I watched a tough break for Kevin as Matt's Faux-quis crew politely ignored multiple dilemmas). I enjoyed seeing Big Cal
Once BW landed, I knew that I realistically could hope only for a modified win at best, or a small differential due to having already lost twice on the day. At that point, I was genuinely pulling for Matt's Maquis to score a full win, despite my throwing everything I could at him to prevent that - I'm a firm believer in being challenged in every game. Although NZ missions have relatively low requirements for solving, the skill set requirements are diverse enough that many Maquis and Faux-quis are hampered. Unfortunately for the Maquis, my dilemmas held them off long enough for time to be called, and a modified win to be issued to Matt. The elusive belle called "Full Win" haunts and tantalizes Maquis players... yet the allure of capturing her is too exciting to be denied.
