Deck Name: "Crush the Humans, Crush the Humans" (to the tune of Elmer Fudd's "Kill the Wabbit") Deck - Minbari/War - Steve Crow (based loosely on the "Did Someone Say BOOM?" deck by Herbert Fogel.
Race: Minbari
Designer: Steve Crow
Email Address: steve_crow@ncs.com

Brief summary of deck: Crush the Humans.  Move on.  Crush somebody else. Flaunt your superior technology.

Section 1: The Cards:

Aftermaths: Approval of the Gray x2, It Will Be His Undoing, RenownedVictory
Total # of aftermaths: 4

Agendas: Imperialism, Finish The War
Total # of agendas: 2

Characters: Delenn, Warleader Shakiri, Dhaliri, Rathenn, Durlan, Draal, ShalMayan, Kalain, Hedronn, Lennier, Neroon, Minbari Captain, Minbari Telepath,Shakat, Mary Ann Cramer.
Total # of Characters: 15

Diplomacy Conflicts:
Total # of Diplomacy Conflicts: 0

Intrigue Conflicts:
Total # of Intrigue Conflicts: 0

Military Conflicts: Border Raid x3, Establish Base, Limited Strike x3
Total # of Military Conflicts: 7

Enhancements: Draft, Factional Inertia, Fleet Support Base x2, StealthTechnology x2
Total # of Enhancements: 6

Events: Affirm Alliance x3, Declaration of War x2, Destined To Be, Level thePlaying Field x3, Meditations x3
Total # of Events: 12

Fleets: Deep Space Fleet x2, Expeditionary Fleet, First Battle Fleet, GreyCouncil Fleet, Second Battle Fleet, Third Battle Fleet, Warleader's Fleet,Support Fleet (x3)
Total # of Fleets: 11

Groups: Wind Swords, War College
Total # of Groups: 2

Locations: Minbar, Border World, Taralenn II
Total # of Locations: 3

Total # of cards in deck: 62

Section 2: Strategy

Opening Hand: Delenn, Warleader Shakiri, War College, Finish the War

Opening Strategy:
On turn 1, see what Sinclair does.  He will almost certainly rotate to do something.  If he does, rotate Delenn to play Finish the War, then spend 1 Influence (bringing you down to 3) to raise Minbari tension against the Humans to 4 as your next action.

If Sinclair doesn't do something on his first action, rotate Delenn to play Finish the War as a _hidden_.  Then, on your second action reveal FtW, and on your third spend the Influence.  It's almost certain that Sinclair will have rotated to do something else, making it impossible for him to prevent the tension increase.

On Turn 2, you'll go first (because of the 3 Influence).  Rotate Delenn to increase your Influence to 4.  Sinclair will either have to rotate to prevent your tension  increase via FtW, or do something else.

If he rotates to neutralize FtW, great, stand pat.  He's not sponsoring orpromoting (unless he's using Build Infrastructure), and he's not increasing Influence.

If he rotates to do something else, also great.  Spend 1 Influence on FtW toboost your tension towards the Humans to 5.  You're at war, and set.

It he doesn't rotate at all, waiting for you to do something, just stand patuntil he does.  If you both pass, it's the same as if he had rotated toneutralize.

On Turn 3 and subsequent turns, you're either already at War, in which casejust keep rotating Delenn and building influence, or play the waiting game again to see if Sinclair rotates to counter FtW.

Unless you really need that second character, or you draw to a good Leadership-type, don't bother putting out War College until you're close to
10 Influence.  If you get a "cheap" character (Lennier, Minbari Captain, Shal Mayan) that you can promote to the Inner Circle with less than 10 Influence, go ahead and bring them out.  Otherwise, wait until you're at 10, then bring out War College, then next turn rotate it to have Delenn sponsor Shakiri for 9 Inflence.

If you've bought out "cheap" characters, you are probably a few turns behind the Narn and Centauri, and possibly the Humans.  However, you also have a fair-sized hand of card by now, and you're ready for the mid-game.

Midgame Strategy:
Pummel Earth with the one or two fleets you've no doubt drawn and the extra characters you've got.  Short of a Forced Impairment, Mary Ann Cramer, or some of the other tension-reducers, nothing is going to stop your war with the Humans.  Have Shakiri and Delenn lead your fleets in war conflict after war conflict.  If the Humans play Locations, capture them.  Switch in Imperialism when you do so, for more Influence.

If you can, Establish Base is a good conflict to play about now for the extra military power.  Boost your best fleets with Stealth Technology.  If you have Minbar out and want some extra Influence, use your Border Raids and Limited Strikes on the Humans.

Your characters and fleets ain't cheap, but Affirm Alliance, Draft, War College, and Wind Swords will help you discount.

Endgame Strategy:
Unless they played with an anti-war strategy (see "Weaknesses"), the Humans should be on the ropes.  While you take your time to crush them, use Limited Strike, Border Raid, Mary Ann Cramer and/or Rathenn to start boosting your tension up towards the Centauri or Narn: whichever one looks weakest militarily.  Alternately, use the threat of these cards as a bargaining chip to keep them from interfering with your war with the Humans: "You stay out, and I'll pick on your rival instead." or words to that effect.

Facitonal Inertia will delay most other wins: it certainly won't hurt you. It Will Be His Undoing will spank anybody foolish enough to try a Doom deck.

Weaknesses:

The deck opens slow, and its obvious.  However, if you want a war with the Humans, it's pretty much impossible to stop.  And if the Humans do stop you, they're almost certainly going to have to tie up Sinclair and muck up their own Opening Strategy.

You're not bad in Diplomacy, and a Level the Playing Field, combined with a Shakiri/Grey Council fleet combo, is probably enough to stop most anti-war measures.

The Shadows can probably pick off your weaker fleets.  However, your overwhelming strength here helps, making it very expensive for them to do so.

If someone else is using the Vorlon, You Are Not Ready can be annoying, but won't stop your War conflicts.

This deck is not incredibly strong against Intrigue, since you're not using Vorlons.  Adding a couple of Minbari Fighting Pikes might be worth your while (see "Variations).  With two extra Strife marks, go out and whack on those Centauri and Human types trying to Intrigue you.

Section 3: Variations
 
If you somehow get into a 2- or 3-player game without the Humans, substitute Declaration of War for Finish the War, and Mary Ann Cramer for Shakiri.  Use Cramer to pump up your tension towards whoever looks to be the weaker, militarily, of your opponents, then declare war wen the time is right.

As noted above, the addition of Minbari Fighting Pikes can dissuade Intrigue types from targetting you.

Manifest Destiny and Vital Interests are possible alternative cards to include.  Total War gives you a Doom mark, negating your Stealth Technology: not a good idea.  You might need Survey in Force to get a Location or two out if your target proves reluctant.

If your opponents have figured out that Doom decks are a bad idea, drop it and substitute Obstacles to Victory.  Between that and Factional Inertia, you should be able to keep almost anyone from winning long enough for you to get a win.

Thanks to Herbert Fogel for his original deck idea.  I have made some modifications, both post-Shadows and for my own card pool.  For instance, I've only got two Minbari Deep Space Fleets right now... :( I also went heavier on the Military Conflicts and dropped the Intrigue and Diplomacy. I've added a few more characters, since Rathenn (alter tensions) and Durlan (add Leadership) weren't in his deck, and they both seem to work for me pretty well.  There's cooler Location in Shadows for the Minbari to use, also...
 
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