Deck Overview:     "The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace..."
The Babylon 5 deck (aka The Alliance of Races deck) employs a uniqe stradegy to achive victory.  Just like in the show, the Babylon station will become a legendary icon (and your path to victory) by gaining recognition, support and popularity. 

Opening Hand:   Jeffery Sinclare, Susan Ivanova, Alliances of Races, Upgrade Defences.  (Note:  In a two player game, exchange Ugrade Defences for Non-Aligned Support and Susan Ivanova for Human Aide. )

Beginning of Game:   First, build to five influence.  Then, sponsor Susan Ivanova on turn two, and promote her on turn three.  Also, on turn three, bring out Alliance of Races as a hidden agenda.  It is very important to make sure it's hidden until you are ready to start using it.  Otherwise you'll be prime for an early Forced Impairment or Babylon 5 Unrest.  Build to 9 influnce, then move on to the Midgame Stradegy.  (In a two-player game, bring out Human Aide first turn, and on the second turn, initiate and win Non-Aligned Support.)

Midgame Stradegy:   Reveal your Agenda and recieve nasty glares from all the other players.  If this is a tournament, you're best to make a friend by promising them the bonus points.  It is actualy VERY recomended to have at least one ally.  That way you have a chance at passing some of the Babylon 5 votes in your deck.  Now begin to transfer a point a turn to Babylon 5, and build back up.  Getting a third or fourth character into the Inner Circle will help you rebuild after each transfer to Babylon 5.  Play B5 builders whenever possible (For The Common Good and Support Babylon 5.), then recycle them.  Play a Grievance if you can pass it.  When you get a couple fleets, start Crusading for Babylon 5.  In case of Border Raids  or Limited Strikes, play a Merchandising Babylon 5.  You can also use Merchandising B5 in conjunction with Susan Ivanova to bring out Bester.  Susan Ivanova will also be needed to bring out Luis Santiago, since you'll never have more than 10 influence at a time.  News of Galactic Import will slow down conflict-a-turn players (Power Politics, war conflicts, etc).  An extra Alliance of Races is stocked in case your starting one gets a Force Impairment slapped on it, though Forced Impairment can be killed by using Eliminate Threats.

Endgame:   When Babylon 5 reaches 20 influence, you gain +20 power and you win.  It is highly reccomended to keep Upgrade Defenses in your hand until it will assure you victory.  A Shadow player will gladly Forces Collide it, and since Upgrade Defenses is unique, once it's gone... it's gone.  If The Shadow War begins, you can no longer gain the power from Babylon 5.  However, that doesn't mean that you should stop building its influence.  Keep forking over influence and playing Crusade until you can win by replacing Alliance of Races with Peace In Our Time.  However, be absolutly sure that it will gain you victory at the end of turn, because you won't be able to transfer a point a turn anymore.  (Remember, after the Shadow War has begun, you need ten more power than any other player!)

Strengths:   The speed of this deck is a huge asset.  You only need to build 16 power for Babylon 5 to win.  Upgrade Defences does 25% of that work for you.  The Great Machine does almost the same amount, as does two For The Common Goods.  There are very few cards which can lower Babylon 5's influence, and even fewer of those can do it every turn (see Weaknesses).  Censure and Shunned will drasticaly hurt an opposing Diplomat or fleet, giving you the advantage you need for Crusade.  Another major advantage of this deck is the ability to continue to push forward blindly, even with massive handicaps.  You could be losing three points of influence a turn to three different players via war conflicts and still be able to win!   Sigma 957 will also delay The Shadow War by 5 points, giving you a bit of breathing room.

Weaknesses:   You are sure to gain a slew of enemies when you play this deck.  With almost no intruige, and only a few fleets, you might have to take your lumps and hope that your deck will be faster than your opponents.  Babylon 5 Unrest can seriously hinder your plans if you aren't prepared for it.  You'll need two or three diplomacy mongers to get rid of it, or you'll be taking one step forward and one step back each turn.  Fortuantly, it is beatable.  Infiltrate and Exploit isn't.  For only five influence, your opponent can start a Intruige conflict each turn that will make a TARGET lose a point of influence.  Not target player.  Not target faction.  Target.  That's -1 per turn for B5 (save for three Level The Playing Field).  [Note:  It has been ruled that Infiltrate and Exploit can only target players.]  As with every deck, Forced Impairment is one to watch out for!  You'll be stuck until you draw one of your extra Alliance of Races.  Buracratic Controls can also be very harmful, since your faction won't be able to free-build above 9 influence.  It won't kill you, but it will make bringing out Bester or Luis Santiago - and winning via Peace In Our Time - that much more difficult.  Obstacles to Victory will halve any power gained from Alliance of Races, which shouldn't be much of a worry, since it will still spell victory for you.

Non-Aligned Support:  This conflict will, as long as you were the last one to play it, allow you to make the Leauge of Non-Aligned Worlds vote in your favor.  However, you can only use this ability in case of a tie!  In a two player game, this guarentees victory in any B5 vote.  In a multiplayer game, you'll need at least one ally to either win the vote for you (three player game), or tie it up so the Leauge can win it for you (four player games).  You can now slap Censure  and Shunned on your opponents, and win the votes from Grievance, Affirmation of Peace and Support Babylon 5.  (A note regarding Support Babylon 5:  To minimize the influence gain from this, abstain instead of voting no.  This will cause the vote to pass instead of tie.  Since it isn't a tie, the Leauge won't have to vote.  One less Yes vote... one less influence given to B5.)

The Great Machine:  By purposly losing this conflict... or by only winning half of it, you give B5 +3 influence!  Just be sure that you don't accidently win both parts of the conflict.  It's a good card to play early in the game when no one is poweful enough to win, and can't afford to discard a character for the support.