Not all gamers are motivated by the same things. Some see gaming as an education of sorts; an opportunity to learn things through practical application of the strategies they bring to the game, whether those strategies involve diplomacy, deduction, math, deception or whatever else happens to tickle the intellect. Others see it as a way to express themselves, a form of art where they can show off their creative chops. And then there are people who simply want to win…

While most people are a blend of all of these things, usually one of the three predominates. I myself, for example, am more inclined to try to express myself rather than win or learn something new. Don’t get me wrong; I do play to win. It’s just that I want to win on my own terms. Winning for victory’s sake doesn’t do it for me. I want to win because I was original or because I was cleverer than my opponent, not because I was calm and calculated. The area where this obsession shows itself the most is deck-building. I love making decks: the farther-fetched the idea, the more fun it is to build and play with.

While not the wackiest notion ever conceived, shipless* deck-building is a challenge nonetheless, and so that’s what I’m going to try and tackle this week.

The first thing to keep in mind is that in all likelihood I will be playing against ships, and without ships of my own I will need to defend myself some other way. Actually, that's probably the second thing I should worry about. The first thing I should worry about is how to win the game without a single ship in my deck.

After going through all my cards, I came up with the following three ways:

1. Steal my opponent's ships with Mutiny
2. Go for the alternate win condition provided by Coercion Tower
3. Empty my opponent's market with Furnace Mill
   

And the winner is...

Mutiny!

This may not conform strictly to the spirit of shipless deck-building - since you're ultimately going to be winning with ships - but think how satisfying it's going to be to pull this off. With only four copies of Mutiny in your market, this would be nigh-on impossible. Therefore, you need some ways to increase your chances of drawing multiple copies of it.

Mutiny can be played by both Caldari and Minmatar; I'm going to go for Caldari here, because they are better at scrounging up the cards you need, when you need them. A few cards spring to mind: Salvage Drones, Human Containment Facilities and Sansha's Nation are good for bringing things back from the scrapheap, and Black Market can fetch you the ones you have in your market (as long as you have spare cards with the same printed price as Mutiny [4 ISK]). A good candidate for this would be Market Research Lab, since it, also, can help you draw the right cards.

Seeing as how the deck has a somewhat narrow focus, it's probably a good idea to draw more cards with the help of Information at a Cost. Bad News, while good for drawing cards, has poor synergy with Mutiny, so it's best to skip those. For defense, you'll need some EMP Minefields and Sentry Guns. I also like Incubation Dome, because it helps with building up massive shield and income numbers in the late game. The slightest disruption to the plan could lose the game for this deck, so a full set of four Mind Controls will also be necessary.

Let's see what we have so far:

NEWS:

4 Mutiny

4 Salvage Drones

4 Information at a Cost

4 Mind Control

2 Black Market

STARBASE STRUCTURES:

4 Market Research Lab

4 EMP Minefield

4 Sentry Gun

4 Incubation Dome

2 Human Containment Facilities

Total: 36 cards

Seeing as how you don't have any ships to boost your income with outer regions, you can fill the rest of the deck with locations. That makes sixteen locations:

LOCATIONS: 

4 Veldspar

4 Tourist Resort

4 Interstellar Trade Post

2 Sansha's Scout Outpost

2 Remote Research Facility

Total: 52 cards.

Add one starbase and three outer regions, microwave on low for 3 minutes and you've got yourself a delicious shipless deck!

Precognition Tower

Sansha's Nation

Ginnungagap

Serpentis Prime

Until next time, your Tallest.
P.S. Happy New Year!

*Whether my automated spell-checker (words, not sorcery) will admit it or not, this is an actual word, meaning "destitute of ships." (Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)