I missed the fact that starting with a 9 card deck does have a few advantages too. If you start with Seek Allies, going to Desert Tactics will slim your deck down even more and will guarantee you draw into the cards you buy more often. Still depends on the opening row but worth a mention.
Thanks for the series. My experience with Staban is absolutely positive. I had about 8 plays with him and was usually crushing the game. Once you acquire one or two spy or faction cards, you are good (it's probably harder if you play with D:I cards, so consider that). I love the spice selling on the ring because it provides workaround if you are unlucky to make it to Spice Refinery. Once I was able to buy swordmaster on the start of the second round. Also I think Staban is actually good combat leader. Thanks to his ring I was often spying both on Heighliner and Hagga Basin. Most importantly I'm having fun with him.
When you play his signet ring you get a spy, which is what “when placed on…” is referring to. At least I think that’s what it means; I haven’t played Uprising yet.
