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Reward deck

Reward deck card back

The reward deck is a special deck of 32 cards introduced in FFG's Cosmic Incursion expansion. It is a slightly more powerful deck than the cosmic deck and is designed to encourage defensive alliances. If the reward deck is in use, players may draw some or all of their rewards from it instead of from the cosmic deck.

Additional reward decks are included in FFG's Cosmic Dominion (32 cards) and Cosmic Odyssey (23 cards) expansions. These new decks contain cards that are more wild and bizarre than those in the Cosmic Incursion reward deck. Players can use either of the new decks alone or combine them with each other and/or the reward deck from Cosmic Incursion for a bigger reward deck.

Also included in Cosmic Odyssey is the ultra reward deck. This set of 9 extra-powerful cards has its own rules for including it in a game.

Rules[]

To play with the reward deck, simply shuffle it and place it face down in the play area during setup.

During the game, whenever a player has the option of drawing cards for rewards (such as by being a successful defensive ally or using an effect that allows them to receive rewards), he or she may draw some or all of the cards from the reward deck instead of the cosmic deck. This follows all the normal rules of drawing cards for rewards, including that the player must decide how to redeem all of his or her rewards (how many ships, how many cards from the cosmic deck, how many cards from the reward deck) before drawing or looking at any cards.

Cards from the reward deck have a blue card back that is different than the yellow-backed cards from the cosmic deck. Players may look at the backs of cards in other players' hands at all times, including when taking or selecting cards at random from other players' hands. This makes reward cards more tempting to steal, as they are generally more powerful than ordinary cosmic cards, but the stealing player runs the risk of taking a rift.

When reward cards are discarded, they go to the reward deck's discard pile (separate from the cosmic deck's discard pile). If the reward deck runs out, its discard pile is reshuffled to form a new reward deck. If there are no reward cards left in either the reward deck or the reward discard pile, no more reward cards can be drawn (a cosmic quake is not caused).

Note that while the reward deck contains many powerful cards, it does not contain any flares, nor does it contain attack cards higher than 23. Depending on the situation, players may want to draw rewards from the cosmic deck rather than from the reward deck.

Variants[]

Common Rewards (Cosmic Incursion)[]

For a more chaotic game with fewer additional rules, players can simply shuffle the reward deck into the cosmic deck during setup. Gameplay proceeds as normal.

Ultra Rewards (Cosmic Odyssey)[]

Ultra rewards are especially powerful versions of cards in the reward deck, and have an orange card back as opposed to the blue card back of reward deck cards. If playing with them, shuffle them into the reward deck during setup and continue shuffling until an ultra reward card is not on top.

During the game, players may end up drawing ultra reward cards if they draw from the reward deck. However, they are not allowed to draw more than one ultra reward card at once; if they would draw a second ultra reward from the reward deck, they do not draw it and must stop drawing rewards from the reward deck. In this case, they may divide up the rest of the rewards they are entitled to as they see fit (ships or cards from the cosmic deck). This restriction applies once per opportunity a player has to draw from the reward deck (collecting defender rewards, playing a rift  2 , spending Lux, etc.).

Reward deck contents[]

Cosmic Incursion[]

Cosmic Dominion[]

  • 12 encounter cards:
    • 5 variable attacks: 02/20, 03/30, 12/21 x2, 21/12: The large-printed value is used at all times except when revealed during an encounter in which a hazard warning was drawn, in which case the small-printed value is used instead.
    • 4 new unique negotiates:  N (Epic Oratory),  N (Faulty Translator),  N (Right of Refusal),  N (Self Defense)
    • 1 additional morph  M 
    • 2 retreats  R 
  • 2 reinforcements: +4, +X (X=the number of ships on either side of the encounter)
  • 4 intimidates: -09, 19, 29, 39
  • 5 unique kickers from ×-1 to ×4, with new effects in addition to multiplying encounter cards
  • 4 new rifts from  1  to  3 , which allow a player to claim cards or even colonies when used, and cause a loss of cards or colonies when stolen.
  • 5 new artifacts: Omni-Zap, Rebirth, Ship Zap, Solar Wind, Victory Boon

Cosmic Odyssey[]

Normal rewards[]

  • 12 encounter cards:
    • 1 attack card 08
    • 2 new unique negotiates:  N (Betrayal),  N (Pyrrhic Victory)
    • 1 additional morph  M 
    • 1 retreat  R 
    • 7 safeguards from 02 to 21
  • 2 reinforcements: +5, +6
  • 3 kickers from ×0 to ×3
  • 3 rifts from  2  to  5 
  • 3 artifacts:

Ultra rewards[]

  • 4 encounter cards:
  • 1 reinforcement: +9
  • 1 rift:  9 
  • 1 kicker: ×X (X=the number of ships you have in the encounter)
  • 2 new artifacts: Aperture, Timegash
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