From:	Matb <mbreton@**.NETCOM.COM>
Subject:	Re: Card/Deck of the Week: Dirk Montgomery
Date:	Tue, 27 Jan 1998 09:55:29 -0800

Quicksilver wrote:

> Actually, I find him very enticing. I wish I had another. With a couple
> Mr. Johnsons in a deck with a Dirk Montgomery (or two) then to some extent
> you can actually pick and choose your runners and contacts.

In a comment I snipped, you mentioned using less Contacts in a deck
since Dirk is there. I wouldn't try this at home :) I'd rather
increase my chances of pulling out the Contact I want from the starting
hand or an early draw by having more Contacts and less Dirks. Most
Contacts can work well together -- although I'm not sure what FASA's
opinion is on having two Mr. Blacks pay for the same gear -- but two
Dirks in play at once only create clutter. Since, by FASA's guidelines,
you only have five or so Contacts in your deck, it seems like you should
at least get a good Runner once you've pulled all your Contacts into
play. Excepting his special ability, Dirk simply isn't worth his cost;
I'd rather spend, say, the same amount minus upkeep on Macabre -- who
has better skills, stats, rarity, and whose special ability might just
pull off the same effect.

And while deck manipulation has its upside, you have to insert more
cards to be able to enact it. I'd rather remove both Dirk and the Mr.
J's and draw a Runner - instead of a card I have to spend money on to
let me draw a particular Runner. This goes doubly, since you can always
draw to a full hand (so four or five cards in a particular turn isn't a
big deal.) YMMV.

I do like the fact that not every Prime Runner was a kick-butt Runner.
But Dirk - sigh - for such a cool character in the novels, came out
really underpowered.

I've found the "Racist Detectives" deck works, more in spite of Dirk
than because of him. There were, I regret to say, a few errors in my
post (I mentioned Mr. Black as a Contact, and never listed him..) but
these will be fixed on the website.


-Matt