Introduction

Melonhedjed wrote an excellent article on The Top 10 Clave Uncommon Cards. We discussed his article idea in the mezz, and he told me I should write one for Thrass.

In theory, this was going to be an easy article. In practice, it was much harder than I expected to pick out a top ten. Part of the problem is that Thrass decks either want to force war and bombing, or want to avoid war and bombing (so you can leave your citizens spread around the board ready to usr Brain Burrower). Depending on which of these strategies you choose, the top ten uncommon cards will be very different.

Another problem I encountered is that few Thrass uncommon cards are real staples. Clave cards like Gone Rogue and Bounty Hunter can reasonably be called staples, but that seems much less true for Thrass. The good bug decks rely much more on their deep and powerful pool of rare cards.

The List

However, in the interest of providing reasonable advice to fellow Thrass Players, here is my top ten list of uncommon cards you should consider, presented in the now famous count-down format.

1. 10. Proton Shipyards
   • This card provides a nice bonus for the underpowered Thrass scouts, but the real winners are the cruisers. Thrass cruisers are great because they?re cheap, have a built-in spore cloud and because they don?t have inferior weapons (like Clave cruisers). So you get instant bonus offense.
   • This card fits best in war-themed Thrass decks.
2. 9. Infinity Drive
   • Infinity Drives make a lot of sense for Thrass scouts. You?ll hardly miss their weak beam weapon, but the battle avoidance potential is great. Early on, it allows you to expand with very little to fear. Later, it can be used for surprise attacks on enemy positions, when combined with Ensnare. As an added bonus, it is amazing how often opponents choose to use valuable and tech expensive cards, like sabotage, on a Thrass scout with an infinity drive. They also fit nicely on bombers.
   • This card fits best in battle-avoidance Thrass decks, but can easily be used in war-themes decks as well.
3. 8. Stealth Bomber
   • Ah, the Stealth Bomber. Having several of these ships out during a time of war can nearly win you the game on their own. These are the perfect bombers to use during war time, because you don?t have to worry about sending them into heavily-fortified enemy planets. As an added bonus, opponents often spend enormous resources to get rid of them.
   • This card fits best in war-themes decks.
4. 7. Wide Net
   • The only thing better than a Stealth Bomber is a Stealth Bomber with Wide Net. Kit noted that heroes have become the new citz. One of the biggest advantages heroes with influence have is that they cannot be bombed. This card changes that.
   • This card fits best in war-themes decks
5. 6. Curved Space
   • Some games, this card will sit in your hand and not be used at all. But when it is useful, it is VERY useful. It can be used to hold back your opponent?s citz from making it in time for the vote. It can pause one group of ships heading toward your HW, if you?re being attacked by multiple fronts. It can be used on your own ships to for a defensive reaction.
   • This card can fit into nearly any kind of Thrass deck.
6. 5. Cerebral Corruption
   • This is one of those cards that, like curved space, isn?t always useful, but can be game winning on its own. The modification is eternal, so your opponent has to decide whether she wants to lose the persona to you, or arrange for it to be killed in a tragic hyperspace accident. The lopsided tech makes it hard to use in some decks, but it also means it can be splashed into another mind race. JiveSamba has a sweet Ferrier deck that uses his card to excellent effect.
   • This card fits best in battle avoidance Thrass decks.
7. 3/4. Stasis Field (tied with Irradiation)
   • The Atok block has been kind of those who like superships. Thrass, of course, usually aren?t about super ships. Stasis field can be used defensively on your own ship, or offensively on your opponent?s supership you?d rather fight alone after destroying its support fleet.
   • This card can fit into nearly any kind of Thrass deck.
8. 3/4. Irradiation (tied with Stasis Field)
   • Keeping on the theme of superships, irradiation is a very useful and irritating way to deal with them. The main reason for using them card as opposed to Stasis Field is that, since it is mono entropy, it may fit better into your tech curve.
   • This card fits best into high entropy Thrass decks.
9. 2. Soul Reaver
   • Soul Reaver is my second favorite Thrass conqueror. Its effect is extremely powerful, and it fits wonderfully in battle avoidance Thrass decks. Pair it up with a Thrall Master for even more influence fun.
   • This card fits best in battle avoidance Thrass decks.
10. 1. Cerebral Devourer
    • This card is awesome. A Thrass version of sinister implant that, while it does take a turn to take effect, is much more powerful. Any influence-building cit or hero (such as Nomadic Horde or Archon Overseer) can be pretty well neutralized. Even better, the influence lost is permanent, even if the Devourer is removed. Merakon has said that, with the next patch, this broken card will be fixed so that all lost influence is restored. But even with that fix, it still ranks as the best Thrass uncommon.
    • This card fits into nearly any balanced Thrass deck.

11. Black_Dawn		May 20, 2007
    Interesting list, but I have a few cards I think are more generally useful than some of the card you listed and should be in the top ten. 1) Ansible Threader: This guy is just awesome, especially if you don't have the new Hive Queen. He has Scramble, and gives an attacking force +3 to all its weapons (+1 for leadership and +2 for Alert). Combos best with the original Hive Queen. 2) Burrower Strike: This card is very useful if you already have 4X Brain Burrowers in your deck. More chomping is always good, and it lets you draw a card in a conqueror deck. 3) Forced Breeding: I've designed entire decks around this card. It can let you take over planets, as long as your deck is stocked with heroes. It can supplement or replace Thrall Chamber, and combos well with Parasite. 4) Needle Split: Some of you may look at me funny when I include this card, but it is currently the only way to natively give the Thrass a 4-jump ship. This can be very useful on certain maps. Lots of combos in a Life-splash deck, and combos with Jump Thrasher natively. 5) Occupation Hive: yes, I know this can only be used effectively in a conqueror deck, but it's so good it deserves to be included. With a massive 50 defense and 25 damage (alert), it can really help secure your holdings. Smack a few weapon mods on it for extra evil. 6) Communications Tower: The Thrass have many many many scout-class cards (more than any other race I believe), and this card helps you take advantage of that. It gives and scouts built or deployed ambush, or ambush + scramble for 1E. Awesome.

    Zorro		May 21, 2007
    While I was trying to narrow down the list into a top ten, all of the cards you listed above, except Occupational Hive, were really tough calls. The reason I opted not to include some was because the effect was either duplicative of a rare or common, or in the case of Needle Split and Communications Tower, I just couldn't figure out what to remove from the list. I am somewhat surprised to see Occupational Hive among your cards. I tried very hard to make this card work for me, but couldn't. The main problem I had was my Thrass fleets want to be nimble, and this didn't fit with that. Plus, planting it on a planet usually mean I had to plant multiple ships there to guard the flag, since the destiny penalty is so horrible. I finally gave up figuring that if I really wanted starbases I would just play Silica.

    Leto		May 21, 2007
    Infinity drive should really be the number 1 thrass uncommon, particularly for war decks. Also, since bombers don't really benefit from Proton Shipyards I fail to see how they are a strong inclusion in a war deck. It is a good shipyard for Thrass because you can usually drop ships early, and you build more ships than other races.

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