I have to admit it was a lot easier deciding on the top ten villain uncommons for this article than the top ten hero uncommons. Hero cards are very dependent on what type of deck you are playing. There are very few hero cards that can be considered almost a must-have for most or all decks. Also, because most obstacles in this game come in pairs, I was able to cheat a little. As always, I hope you enjoy the article.

The List

1. 10. Big Bug & Corrosive Spray
   • Big Bug and Corrosive Spray are relatively popular for a couple reasons. First, they are replicator cards, and the replicators were one of the coolest enemies the SG-1 team had to face in the show. Because people like them, people want to collect them. Second, as replicator cards, their usefulness depends on other replicator cards, so you'll need at least two or three of each. Finally, when they can be useful, they can be very useful. If you can manage to drop two corrosive sprays on a mission you can kill two characters. Assign Replicator Carter (Leader of the Scourge) to the same mission and you can kill four characters. They sit down at number ten, though, because a replicator villain deck isn't too viable yet. Even if you include 3 of all replicator cards in your deck (including three Replicator Carters), you're still just barely scraping the 20 villain card minimum. And when you do this you are almost completely ignoring Culture skill. When we get some more Replicator cards, they will be a force to be reckoned with.
2. 9. Excavation & Cannon Tower
   • As I said, obstacles come in pairs. Excavation and Cannon Tower give you the same effect in two different skills. Excavation is my favorite of the two. It will stop your opponent's Samantha Carter, Cameron Mitchell or Janet Fraiser from being assigned. It will also stop Nicholas Ballard (Outcast Scholar), but once he uses his boost to get Culture +2, he's unblocked and free to be assigned. Still, this forces your opponent to boost him, which destroys Nicholas Ballard (Outcast Scholar) at the end of the mission. I can't tell you how many times my opponent just needed that one culture from Ballard, and still get to keep him for 3 culture at a later mission. Cannon Tower is a little less useful, as I believe there's less characters with 1 combat. It will stop Vala Mal Doran or Balinsky, though. It even stops Jacob Carter (Man of Two Worlds) with his two glyphs, because Jacob doesn't get his skills boost until after he's assigned with another character.
3. 8. Forced Labor Camp
   • Forced Labor Camp is a decent obstacles at 3 cost for 3 Combat or 2 Ingenuity, but its failure text is a neat and unique ability. This obstacle sits with Under Suspicion and The Enemy Within as one of the few to be placed under your opponent's characters for a unique effect. At the very least, it will lower your opponent's power by 3 on a future turn. Good.
4. 7. Endure the Tests & Blinded
   • Here's another pair. Three cost for 3 or 2 difficulty nets you the ability to Incapacitate one of your opponent's team characters. Remember how much you hate it when you go first and your opponent stops a character. The effect of incapacitation is pretty much the same, stopping the character on the following turn. Sometimes I include one of each, just to punish my opponent if he's skipping a skill.
5. 6. Klorel (Mighty Warrior)
   • Klorel becomes the first adversary we encounter in our top ten, and there's more to come. The power to block a character each time you assign Klorel can be powerful. Unfortunately, the opponent often assigns the character with the highest skill first, especially when he sees Klorel on the table. Still, this will usually net you 4 cost for 4 difficulty, when you factor in the blocking. Too bad he makes you want to assign Klorel as fast as possible, which goes against the normal villain strategy of staying out until you absolutely have to. If we ever get a Goofing Off for the villain side, Klorel will be awesome.
6. 5. Mind Probe & Information Leak
   • These are easily my two favorite obstacles that go in all my decks. One cost for 2 difficulty is good any day of the week, and 1 cost for 1 difficulty in Science or Culture is still decent and will allow you to play an extra complication or obstacle. If that didn't make it worth your while, the failure text allows you to move a glyph from one opponent's team character to another, often messing up their plan. Some now include several Tight-knit Teams just to counter this obstacle.
7. 4. Nirrti (Goddess of Darkness)
   • The ability to kill a support character is always useful. The ability to kill a support character without having to make your opponent fail the mission is even better. Since Nirrti can kill a support character for each science obstacle, the more science obstacles you play the more characters she can kill. And it doesn't have to be a science mission. You could even have played Team Compromised on an Ingenuity mission and assign Nirrti to kill a character. The obstacle just needs a little green beaker on it. Funny how you can't benefit from the -2 cost of Engineered Virus and the kill a character ability of Nirrti on the same mission, since the obstacle needs to be placed first to use Nirrti's ability.
8. 3. Tanith (Lurker)
   • Because he makes complications cost power -1 to play you can really consider him as a 4 cost adversary for (2/1/3/3) skills. But he also continues working long after his cost is paid for. Being able to play an extra complication is always good, but he's a great counter to cards like Retrieve Artifact and Keffler (Bioengineer). If Kendra (Child of Jebanna) happens to remove your complications, another can be played at 0 cost again.
9. 2. Frank Simmons (Government Adversary)
   • Frank Simmons is easily one of the most game breaking villain cards that exist as of the first set. If you can play him early, when your opponent doesn't have much power, your opponent has to choose between developing his board by playing support characters or gear, or trying to make the mission, hoping beyond hope that you don't have the right obstacles to stop him. Later in the game he'll combo well with a political obstacle and, while he might not alone stop the mission, losing the power by assigning characters can still be annoying, and a 3 cost for 2 Culture and 3 Ingenuity isn't bad and his revive cost is doable.
10. 1. Fifth (Hardened Foe)
    • Fifth has become one of the most beloved uncommons by players. His revive cost can start to become spendy, since it increases with his skills, but it is just awesome to have an adversary with 5 difficulty in Culture, Science, and Ingenuity. It can be very annoying early game or game saving when late in the game. Have you often thought, man, I just need to stop my opponent from completing a mission this turn and I'll win on my next. With Fifth pumped up, that can be a breeze. Plus, I think, for the digital version, his video is one of the best. Just don't, for goodness sake, don't include him if you're purely going for the villain win; you want to score your adversaries, not revive them.

As always, comments are helpful. Let me know if you have any thoughts.