Back Issues: Inquest Gamer 48

This issue released April 1999.

Babylon 5

Killer Deck: Cheese Wizard
Starting Hand:
1 Catherine Sakai
1 Defense in Depth
1 Jeffrey Sinclair
1 ISN
Groups:
ISN
Characters:
1 Brother Theo
1 Catherine Sakai
2 Human Agents
1 Human Aide
1 Jeffrey Sinclair
1 Mary Ann Cramer
1 Susan Ivanova
1 Zathras'
Agendas:
2 Defense in Depth
1 Managed Growth
1 Peace in Our Time
Planets:
1 Earth
1 Mars Colony
3 Military Outpost
1 Proxima III
1 Sigma 957
1 Sleeping Z'ha'dum
1 Transfer Point Io
1 Z'ha'dum Awakened
Conflicts:
1 The Great Machine
3 Trade Pacts
Events:
2 For My People
2 Liberating Resources
3 Long Term Investment
3 Meditation
3 Short Term Goals
1 Subliminal Influence
3 Trade Windfall
2 Universe Today Feature
Fleets:
3 Picket Fleet
Enhancements:
1 Upgraded Defense

This is meant to be a non-interactive deck that just amasses power quickly with Defense in Depth, trying to minimize the amount of time it deals with the other players.  With Defense in Depth having different wording in Deluxe Edition, some of the locations would need to be changed.

Non-Killer Theme Deck: Zathras for Hire
Starting Hand:
1 Jeffrey Sinclair
1 Liberating Resources
1 Power Brokers
1 Zathras'
Characters:
1 Dan Randall
1 Jeffrey Sinclair
1 Mary Ann Cramer
1 N'Grath
1 Rogue Soul Hunter
1 Soul Hunter
1 Stephen Franklin
1 Susan Ivanova
3 Z'athras
3 Za'thras
3 Zat'hras
3 Zath'ras
3 Zathr'as
3 Zathras'
Conflicts:
2 Trade Pacts
Events:
1 For My People
2 Liberating Resources
2 Long Term Investment
2 Meditation
2 Short Term Goals
Groups:
1 ISN
1 Power Brokers
Agendas:
1 Managed Growth
Locations:
1 Earth
1 Mars Colony
1 Proxima III
1 Transfer Point Io
1 Sigma 957

Heh, that's pretty funny.  This one tries to get people to give you power using Power Broker.  This is designed to be more amusing than anything else.

Legend of the Burning Sands CCG

Basic Training for the game- including an introduction to the game, strategies, and a sample decklist.  Here is the decklist:

Dueling Bones:
Stronghold:
Jackal City of Bones
City Sections:
2 Thieves Quarter
2 Merchant's Quarter
1 The Maze
Holdings:
3 Doctor
3 Library
3 Belly Dancer
3 Harem
3 Dens of Inequity
3 Gold Merchant
Story Cards:
3 The Tale Of Selqet's Capture
Followers:
3 Bodyguards
Items:
3 Dhul Figar Knife
Actions:
2 Ambush
2 No Escape
2 Handful of Sand
3 Contest of Wills
3 Knife Fight
3 Allies in the Crowd
Heroes:
3 Bonepicker
3 Wardah the Urchin-Mistress
3 Seff Seven-Fingers
3 Afshan Jarr
3 Yaminah

Jackal Dueling... which I guess is uncommon?

Magic: The Gathering

Article on the Top 10 cards from Urza's Legacy.  Top Cards?  Ring of Gix (Defense of the Heart was 2nd).  Scrapheap was labeled as the worst card in the set.  As of me writing this, the most expensive card in the set is Grim Monolith (~30 dollars).  It didn't make the top 10 of Inquest's list.

Killer Deck: The New Sligh
4 Incinerate
4 Shock
3 Sonic Burst
4 Ball Lightning
2 Fireslinger
2 Goblin Patrol
4 Iron Claw Orcs
4 Jackal Pup
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Mogg Flunkie
4 Cursed Scroll
18 Mountain
4 Wasteland
Sideboard:
2 Boil
4 Bottle Gnomes
3 Phyrexian Furnace
4 Pyroblast
2 Shattering Pulse

Not really anything earth shattering here, just a Sligh deck with the legal cards at the time.

Non-Killer Theme Deck, based on Planet of the Apes
3 Apes of Rath
3 Barbary Apes
1 Gargantuan Gorilla
2 Gorilla Berserkers
2 Gorilla Chieftain
1 Gorilla Pack
2 Gorilla Warrior
3 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Giant Growth
1 Seedling Charm
1 Overrrun
1 Simoon
4 Gorilla Shaman
4 Kird Ape
2 Raging Gorilla
1 Ravenous Baboon
1 Agility
1 Bestial Fury
1 Gorilla War Cry
3 Guerilla Tactics
9 Forest
3 Karplusan Forest
8 Mountain
3 Snow-covered Forest

Deck-Building 101: Discard Deck "Under Duress":
2 Nevinyrral's Disk
4 Abyssal Specter
4 Dauthi Horror
4 Mindstab Thrull
3 Skittering Skirge
4 Dark Ritual
3 Diabolic Edict
3 Drain Life
4 Duress
2 Expunge
2 Necropotence
2 Persecute
2 Stalking Stones
19 Swamp
2 Wasteland

Top 10 Magic Cards:

1. Stroke of Genius
2. Cursed Scroll
3. Time Spiral
4. Living Death
5. Ball Lightning
6. Recurring Nightmare
7. Tradewind Riders
8. Dual Lands
9. Oath of Druids
10. Armageddon

Middle-Earth Collectible Card Game

Kuhlmeyer's World Championship Middle-Earth Deck:
Starting Characters:
Bilbo
Firiel
Threlin
Ioreth
Halbarad
Surion
Odoacer
Belegorn
Gloin
Balin
Starting Minor Items:
1 Open To the Summons
1 Thrall-ring
Starting Stage Resources:
1 Hidden Haven
1 Wizard's Myrmidon
1 Thrall Of The Voice
Characters:
1 Ciryaher
1 Radagast
Resources:
1 Glove of Radagast
1 Noble Steeds
2 Noble Hound
2 Elf-song
1 Lordly Presence
2 Crooked Promptings
2 Weigh All Things to a Nicety
2 Smoke Rings
2 Voices of Malice
2 Marvels Told
1 Blackbole
2 Hall Of Fire
1 Misty Mountain Wargs
1 Palantir of Orthanc
1 Palantir of Elostirion
2 Dark Tryst
1 Guarded Haven
1 Radagast's Black Bird
2 Great Patron
1 An Untimely Brood
1 Legacy of Smiths
Hazards:
1 Hoarmurath of Dar
1 Assassin
1 Rain-drake
1 Whole Villages Roused
2 Awaken Defenders
2 FEAR! FIRE! FOES!
1 Foolish Words
1 Nature's Revenge
3 Sellswords Between Charters
1 The Moon Is Dead
1 Stirring Bones
1 Dwarven Travelers
1 Mouth of Sauron
1 Khamul The Easterling
1 Uvatha The Horseman
1 Adunaphel
2 Chill Douser
3 River
1 Revealed to All Watchers
1 Tidings Of Bold Spies
1 Smaug At Home

This era was apparently dominated by Fallen Wizards, and this deck is no different.  Apparently Fallen Pallando decks were also popular at this time.

Top 10 CCGs:

1. Magic: The Gathering
2. Star Wars
3. Legend of the Five Rings
4. Star Trek CCG
5. Highlander
6. Babylon 5
7. Doomtown
8. Battletech
9. Legend of the Burning Sands
10. Xena

Well, I have cards for all of these except Highlander and Legend of the Burning Sands.  Guess I know what I need to do.


Other Things
A mention is made of an 'upcoming' Chronicles of Amber CCG, designed by Eric Lang and published by Nebula Games.  It doesn't seem to have ever come out, which is a shame, as the news article describes it as being very story-heavy, and focused around actually having an on-going campaign with your friends.  Really a shame to not see this one get published.

Another mention- Shi: The Card Game, from Thunder Castle Games (publishers of the Highlander CCG).  This was supposed to be a game similar to Highlander, but from a comic universe.  Another one that doesn't seem to have actually seen the light of day :(.

A for-fun article about CCG expansions that we'd never see.  These were the expansions included:

• Star Wars CCG: Spaceballs (funny enough, a fan expansion for the current Star Wars LCG is being made: https://teamsandcrawla.net/games/star-wars-the-card-game/team-sandcrawla-to-produce-custom-content/).
• Magic: Mythology 
• Doomtown: Hollywood (including John Wayne characters, Clint Eastwood, etc)
• Legend of the Five Rings: Age of Machine (example card is Mirumoto Maru, the Dragon Clan Battleship).
• Babylon 5: First Ones
• Star Trek: The Motion Pictures (and then three years later, it actually came out.)

This was also Rick Swan's last issue.  Truly a sad day for Inquest :(.