Knowing what cards to expect from your opponent (and preparing for them before they happen) is a key skill in SC. It is a very good idea to keep your opponent's tech window open at all times during a match. If you know where they're at, you know what to fear.

Of course, there are dozens of ways to go with each race (that's what keeps us coming back over and over) but there are some things that are pretty much givens. What follows is a list of the low tech Common and Uncommon cards you can expect to see from your opponents. New players would be very wise to familiarize themselves with this list ASAP. When you're staring down your opponent over an adjacent planet, you need to know what's likely to go down when you get there.

When deckbuilding these cards are always a safe bet. A percentage likelihood of the card making an appearance in a standard constructed deck is offered as a guideline. This is sheer guesswork on my part, so take the figures with a grain of salt. If you see a percentage over 90 however, don't think, just throw four in all your decks. If you see a percentage over 80 and you don't run the card, it should be for a very specific reason (conflict with a deck theme, or that it falls too late in or outside of your tech curve).

Android

• Planetary Bombardment (90%)
• Mounted Laser (80%, takes out a scout without alert status)

When facing: Expect ships to get tougher on the turn they enter battle

Silica

• Ground Assault (99%)
• Battle-Hardened (75%)

When facing: Expect high leadership from the heroes. Avoid inconclusive battles with cruisers due to high hull regeneration.

Thrass

• Hit and Run (80%)
• Brain Burrower (80%)
• Hornet Leader (95%)
• Surprise Ally (85%)

When facing: Expect to take a lot of damage in the torpedo and beam rounds of combat. Expect to lose some personas.

Clave

• Mounted Laser (80%, takes out a scout without alert status when a hero is present with 2 Leadership, such as the initial free hero)
• Humiliation (80%)
• Gone Rogue (99%)
• Sabotage (80%)
• Light Gunship (55%)

When facing: Remember that heroes sitting at choke points with no apparent task are trip-wires for ship destruction.

Zhikanii

• Sinister Implant (95%)
• Confusion (95%)
• Lunacy (95%)
• Invested Dividends (80%)
• Some form of political boost: Field Delegates, Secure Ansible Channel, Power Broker (95%)

When facing: Expect to lose a lot of territorial influence if you have no demods. Also expect a lot of material to come out of the Zhik homeworld due to the racial bonus.

Ferrier

• Tractor Beam (85%)
• Either Interdiction or Weapons Lockup (75%)
• Political Boosts or High Political Influence Heroes (99%)

When facing: Ferrier are generally going to sweep the 3 power plays. Think about how you're going to win prior to turn 18. Note when your opponent picks Council Intervention as a Power Play reward.

Ixa

• Payback and Taxin Zealot (85%) - If you see one you'll likely see the other.
• Shield Failure (90%)
• Interceptor (90%)

When facing: As with Silica, avoid inconclusive battles with cruisers. Torpedoes on the second turn of combat may take your ships out before they can fire. Multiply the number of cruisers by 10 to calculate how much damage you will take before your ships can answer.

Human

• Courier (99%)
• Landing Party (99%)

When facing: When conquering a planet, expect to see at least one more point of territorial influence on the turn you attack.

Kej

• Logical Sacrifice (99%)
• Astral Escort (99%)
• War Shielding (50%)
• Air Support (50%)

When facing: Expect Kej ships to be very hard to kill. Watch out for an Entropy splash, which will greatly increase their offense.

Omior

• Sun Bloom (90%)
• Pod Screen (70%)

When facing: Ferry your voters to the chamber with two ships when possible. Struggle for every possible point of destiny by blockading, keeping influence on your artifact planets, and any other means you can find.

Mind

• Infinity Drive (55%)
• Field Agents (55%)
• Power Broker (55%)
• Stasis Field (45%)
• Weapons Lockup (65%)

When facing: Stasis Field is effectively a Council Intervention against HWA (homeworld assault) unless you have superior influence. Remember to count the Council Interventions your opponent has taken from Power Plays.

Order

• Some form of demod, aka debuff: Bergauldt Rays, Forbiddance, Magnetic Disturbance (85%)
• Some form of shield boost: Aegis Shields, Ion Matrix, Magnetic Shielding, Magnetic Inverter, Barrier Shields (85%),
• Aegis Engineers (60%)

When facing: If you're using weapon mods, try to play them on the turn you enter battle.

Cyber

• Engine Upgrade (90%)
• Some form of hull boost: Ularium Plating, Titanium Plating (80%)
• Scrapyard Scavengers (99%)

When facing: Remember that from turn 2 on (if your opponent has taken an artie on turn 1) Cruisers potentially have up to 5 jump, Scouts up to 6. Expect them to be where you don't expect them to be. Expect your opponent to force inconclusive battles to take planets when Scrap's are present. He's counting on picking up hull at the end of the turn.

Entropy

• Some form of weapon mod: Mounted Laser, Mounted Pulse Gun, Nano-Pulse Warheads, Proton Cannon (95%)
• Iconoclasts (75%)

When facing: Expect your opponent to use his offense to try to establish a destiny bleed. Get your share of the arties. Bring extra ships or defense to any potential battles. If you're running demods, when possible play them on the turn you enter battle. The surprise factor in removal is as valuable as it is in modification. And if your opponent has the edge you may catch an extra one that has just been played.

Life

• Veteran Crew (70%)
• Empathy (70%)
• Space Algae (55%)

When facing: Expect to lose jump when you most need it. If you have no demods, consider taking Assassin as a Power Play option to get rid of an Empathy mod-ed hero.

Disarmament

This card deserves a special mention. The text is somewhat poorly worded. The basic idea is that you can't deploy (from a card) a ship if there are already two on the board. If you run 4 standard cruisers and 4 standard scouts and your opponent plays Disarm, you probably just lost 8 cards. If you're running 4 of some other kind of ship, you just lost 2 each of those as well (assuming the first ones out don't die, and that you draw all 4 in the course of the game). Some people worry about this card not at all, some people (like myself) have decided that the best way to prepare for it is to run 4 myself in most of my decks. Don't run unless you have 4 though, part of the attraction is the free ditch for deck flow.