Repeat after me. There is no such thing as a n00b. There is no such thing as a n00b. Okay, now that we have that down, let's discuss some strategy tips for the player just being introduced to Stargate: Trading Card Game. Yes, there is strategy involved in this game; don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise. Those who say it's all chance, or the game plays itself, simply haven't figured out the strategy yet.

The tutorials give a good introduction to some basic strategy, but we'll go a bit more in depth here.

The Villain Side

Stopping a Character

The first critical objective when it's your turn to be the villain is to stop your opponent from completing missions. This begins on turn one: which character do you choose to stop when your opponent goes first? This is always a judgment call, but there are a few factors to consider. First take a look at their skills. Are there maybe one or two skills that the opponent's team is especially proficient in? Stopping a character that is rating 3 in those skills, or 3/2, might be a good choice. Remember to take a look at your hand, too. What kind of low cost obstacles can you play on your first turn? Maybe you'll have one or two different skills covered by your obstacles. If so, stop a character that is proficient in a third skill that you don't have covered.

Finally, before you stop a character that is proficient in a certain skill, consider: can the opponent win that first mission even if the character is stopped? What I mean is, say you're up against a team of Teal'c, Cameron Mitchell, and Jack'Oneill, and maybe a third character with 1 or two Combat. Stopping Cameron or Jack won't prevent the player from completing the first Combat mission, so don't stop them for that reason. Stopping one of them due to Ingenuity might be a good idea. Or stop Jack because you don't want the opponent to use his ability. Like I said, it's always a judgment call, but here are a few tips to take into consideration.

Stopping Missions

Obviously we want to stop the opponent from completing missions. Something to consider is the game text of your obstacles. For example, maybe you both have 4 power, and the only Combat obstacle in your hand is Brainwashing. You think you could easily stop the opponent from the mission by playing that card, but remember he still has power and could drop a support character. It might be a better option to play a complication, either forcing the support out, or the opponent might play him because he doesn't want to commit his team characters, then play Brainwashing and block the support character.

Waste the Opponent's Resources

Stopping missions is good and downright necessary, but sometimes there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop the opponent. Time to give up? Not at all. In these cases your goal is to slow him down. Wasting your opponent's resources means forcing him to commit as many characters as possible. The tutorials suggest waiting until they have enough skill on the mission before playing obstacles. In addition to this, there are some tricks you can use.

Consider this, your opponent is attempting an Ingenuity mission. You have a Lack of Experience in your hand (2 difficulty for a possible 0 cost) but no other Ingenuity obstacles. Your opponent has one character already assigned and currently able to complete the mission. What do you do? The other characters in the team have Ingenuity 3 - 2 - 2 and you have one power left. You could play Lack of Experience for 0 power. Your opponent knows you have enough power to play 1 complication so he assigns the 3 Ingenuity character and stops your chances. He now has two more characters for the next mission.

Or, you could play the complication first. This is a bluff to your opponent. He sees you have no power left, so he's not worried about assigning a 2 Ingenuity character, one he thinks won't be as good for the next mission. Then you come back with Lack of Experience and force the opponent to assign a third character. This isn't the only kind of situation this could be useful for, just an example. It's something to think about when playing Naquadriah Hallucinations or Unlikely Friends, too. You could play them, block a character assigned, and maybe even make them lose the mission, but they'll go on to another mission and you're low on power. Or you could play a complication first, make them commit another character, then come out with Naquadriah Hallucinations and end the mission.

The Hero Side

Deck Building

When you first start playing you might not own a large card pool to start with, but here are a few notes when you start to customize your deck.

I always begin with a certain team character or two to focus my deck around, and then I build the rest of my team and my deck around that character's abilities. For example, if you have the Samantha Carter deck you have Martouf (Tok'ra Liaison), and you could easily get a Rak'nor (Rebel Convert) in a pack. Read their text and you'll see they can work well together. If Rak'nor and Martouf have the same glyph, Rak'nor gets +2 skill. Rak'nor or Martouf's ability can begin to snowball when you get more glyphs and place them on other characters in your team. This works especially well when you have more than one starter deck so you can customize your missions.

So then you go to your missions once you've chosen characters to compliment your focus. Choose missions that might support your strategy idea, give you good experience for the skills you are proficient in, and other missions that won't hurt you for the skills you aren't proficient in.

Then move on to your support characters. Gather about 8 to 10 cost 3 characters, 3 or 4 cost 4, and 1 or 2 cost 5 characters. This formula isn't exact, but it gives you an idea. You want more cards that you can play on your first or second turns to get your support character base going. Then put in some Events and Gear to help you out in your strategy. For example, are you basing your deck around Balinsky (Insightful Archaeologist)'s ability? Be sure to include 2 or 3 Seasoned Travelers to capitalize on him when you pile your glyphs on him. Did you include an NID team character? Bring along a Special Training or two to help on the Science missions. As you play with your deck, continue to refine it, throwing out those cards that weren't useful in games, including others you forgot about.

Game Play

Support characters are the basis of the Hero side. You need skills to complete missions and support characters will help you complete missions with more regularity. Play them early, usually. When I get the first turn I often pull a mission I can't complete (after my opponent stopped a character). Instead of relying on the luck of the draw for the next mission, I'll play my 3 cost support character and get the missions next turn.

The same goes with gear, especially gear that costs extra power to use its ability, like Transport Rings. Remember to never waste your power. Sometimes it's more effective to play a character or gear than to pay your opponent more power to continue on to another mission. Your opponent will have more ability to stop you and you'll still have that gear in your hand where it won't do any good.

Cycling Cards

Don't be afraid to get rid of cards that aren't helpful to you at this point in the game. Maybe you included a great support character or obstacle in your deck that's 4 or 5 cost, but you draw it on your first turn. Or you redraw and get it. Don't keep it. It's just wasting a spot in your hand that could contain a useful card. Dump it as a complication, or use something like Galaran Memory Device on your Hero turn to discard it. Maybe your opponent has already completed two or three science missions and you have obstacles in your hand specifically geared towards science. They won't do you any good any more. Get rid of it. Or you've just seen your opponent fail a couple combat missions. It's a lot less likely you'll run into one of those this turn, so sacrifice your combat obstacles as complications to get more useful ones on your next draw. Is your opponent playing a villain deck and not making any moves on his hero turn? Get rid of as many obstacles as you can so they don't accumulate.

These are just some tips for the new player. Continue to learn and create new strategies on your own. You'll be a tournament winner in no time.