This article looks at the concept of Alternative Win Conditions, and customising your deck archetype (the innate theme or strategy) to produce a means of attaining victory outside of the usual slugfest. It’s not intended to spoon-feed the reader with pre-made killing-machine decks (where would the fun be in that?) but rather it’s an attempt to stimulate some lateral thinking and throw some new light on your new cards…

Tower Wins – a double-edged sword?

Each race has their own unique Alt Win condition in the form of one of their Upgraded Starbases, as detailed below. A couple of things to consider here though: First is the sheer cost of upgrading your base to facilitate your chosen strategy - 15 ISK is no meagre sum at the best of times (how many lost games would have turned out differently if you just had that one extra battleship in space?) so ensure that your deck includes enough income generation to make your Alt Win feasible. Perhaps include Molden Heath in your choice of outer regions to reduce upgrade costs.

The other thing to note is that all of the Starbase Alt Wins can be utilised by your opponents too, so not only do you have to be careful about what stage in the game you upgrade, you also have to tech your deck to prevent your strategy backfiring on you. How embarrassing would that be?

Here’s a brief look at the individual starbases:

Gallente Base – Monopoly Tower

At the beginning of your management phase, if one player controls the highest number of ships, the highest number of regions, and controls the starbase with the highest shield, he or she wins the game.

This is in keeping with the usual slugfest style of play, and therefore can work really well along a typical Gallente military-style deck where you’re seeking to control lots of regions with your fleet of ships and beefy starbase. So why bother using this tower? Why not just pummel you opponent in the typical fashion and use the benefits from one of the other upgraded starbases? Well, consider the way in which an enemy starbase is normally defended – lots of ambushers lying in wait, a Sentry Gun or three, maybe some Warp Disruption Fields or EMP Minefields… further consider the possibility of your opponent having Metropolis camped-out. Chances are that it will be a costly exercise (both in terms of ISK and lost ships) to invade the enemy home region. So instead of instigating a direct assault, you flip the Monopoly Tower and focus on attacking and controlling outer regions where (probably) there’s less resistance.

One particular card worthy of mention when employing this Alt Win strategy is the Ibis. Puny little beggar though it is, if you have a few of them docked-and-locked then they will simultaneously count towards two of the Monopoly Tower’s win conditions.

Caldari Base – Mogul Tower

At the beginning of your management phase, players who control at least three regions fewer than the player who controls the most regions, lose the game.

Like its Gallente counterpart, this Alt Win starbase needs a deck that packs a bit of punch, since it’s essential in this scenario to be able to invade and defend outer regions. The key element to securing your win in this instance rests with your choice of which outer regions to play. For example, if you can deploy and occupy Stain early in the game then it ensures that you can dictate the pace of expansion and not get spread too thin too early (not to mention preventing non-home region income for your opponent). Follow Stain up with Insmother and this region will defend itself… and already you’re twothirds of the way toward victory.

Of course the critical factor is not to relinquish control of your regions in case your opponent starts slapping down twin Oneiros or a Guardian or two… try winning back your hard-fought regions from these Immovable Objects. Practically impossible (without a Scorpion, that is, or maybe a few Mutiny to deal with the Oneiros). Beware also that you don’t leave your home region undefended as you spread yourself out across the galaxy.

One card that moulds well with this particular strategy is the Ancestral Homeland. All your ships receive a pump to firepower and shields when in the same region as the Homeland whether you control the region or not. Very useful for defending or reclaiming territory.

Amarr Base – Reclamation Tower

At the beginning of your management phase, if any player's starbase shield is 20 or higher, every other player who controls at least one fewer region(s) than him or her loses the game.

As regards methods of beefing up your starbase shield, there’s probably too many to mention them all here. Of course it would be easy to stuff your deck full of starbase structures but the danger is that you don’t leave sufficient room for ships, news and locations, which could upset the drawing balance of your deck. The best bet then is to use those cards which give the maximum shield pump per card, for example Stairway to Heaven, Incubation Dome and Censor Office. Other more modest pumpers include Cathedral, Warp Disruption Field, House of Ill Repute, Human Containment Facilities and Legal Department. Don’t forget also that you can play multiple copies of these cards to get your shield above the 20 threshold.

The thing to beware here is that your opponent could be beefing up his base as well, which could inadvertently qualify for the Alt Win. A possible way around this could be to use structures which give a greater than +1 shield pump (as mentioned above), and then slap down an Institute of Bureaucracy. This will nerf all of the starbase shielding in play, but it will hit those structures with +1 shields (i.e. not yours!) the hardest, so you still maintain advantage. Multiple Ibis in your dock will further strengthen your lead in the shields race. After that, a well-timed News card to negate or destroy the Institute could push your shield past the requisite 20, just in time for the start of your management phase…

Another card worthy of note in this scenario is the Juggernaut Platform. Although this card on its own won’t help you towards an Alt Win (because of the pending ability that returns to your hand at the start of your turn), any Platforms that your opponent has in play could prove problematic, because the +6 shields take effect during your turn and, more importantly, when the Reclamation Tower text triggers… Pity that there wasn’t a method of keeping your own Platforms in play during your turn - I’m having a real Mind Clash trying to come up with a way to do this…

Minmatar Base – Coercion Tower

At the beginning of your turn, if one player has no ISK in the wallet, no cards in hand, and controls no outer region, then he or she loses the game.

The thing to notice about this Victory Condition is that its timing is different from the other Towers. This Alt Win will trigger at the beginning of your turn, whereas the others all kick in at the beginning of your management phase. How this will affect play is pretty important: With the other Towers, a player will have an income step which could provide the opportunity to play News to bring about their win conditions before their management phase when the Starbase text triggers. Not so with the Coercion Tower… You have to set everything up either during your opponent’s turn or during the turn of your own which directly precedes it. This will have serious implications on how you handle your ISK.

The conditions for this Alt Win strategy might seem like a bit of a tall order because your opponent needs to simultaneously have an empty hand and wallet, as well as being cooped up solely in their home region. But when you think about it, part of this strategy is in keeping with your enemy’s objective – they want to spend their ISK getting cards out of their hand and into play. If this is what’s happening consistently after a few turns then it’s likely that they’re in a very strong position in the game. However, a quick flip of your Starbase could have them adopting a more cautious style of play, where they don’t want to help you along the way to your Alt Win, therefore they keep a few cards back that they might otherwise have played. Although this will make it more of an uphill struggle for you to fulfil your Tower’s victory conditions, it could weaken your enemy’s position considerably, which is of course no bad thing.

To enable you to take a proactive approach in depleting your opponent’s resources there are a number of cards geared specifically towards this. Thukker Pirate Haven can turn your attack on an enemy base into both a lucrative venture for you and a costly one for your opponent, and a quick follow-up with Hacker Ethics will let you use your new-found wealth to further empty their coffers. Faulty Implant Manager can effectively take a two-card chunk out of an opponent’s hand, and this could be supplemented by multiple Arkanor mining. Or maybe use The Databank to gain hand extension and then hit them with House of Animosity.

Finally, to fulfil the last part of this Alt Win strategy, even the most ardent fleet will run for home if faced with the hard-hitting Stabber (especially if pumped with some War Tattoos!) or use the devastating Thrasher to turn your spare cash into kills.

Part 2: One for All... Multi-racial Alternative Wins.