If you've played many trading card games, you probably know the general rule that the best decks are almost always the minimum deck size, be it 40, 50, or 60 cards. The minimum size for a Conquest deck is 50 cards, but is that the best size?

Advantages of a smaller domain
There are several advantages to a smaller domain. For this reason, I would wager that most commanders will stick pretty close to the minimum. In a nutshell, here are the advantages to building a smaller domain:

Less risk. The more resources you use, the more risk that poor shuffling of your domain will yield too little locations/upgrades, too many locations/upgrades, or simply a general imbalance.

Easy access to favorite resources. If you have a few key resources that you are basing your domain on, you presumably would like to acquire those resources as soon as possible. The smaller your domain, the more likely you are to draw those resources.

Less collecting required. The bottom line is this: the more resources you use, the more cards you have to collect. So, if you don't have access to all of the rare Conquest cards, a small deck makes it easier to build the domain you need.

It's easier. While it can be difficult to choose between a few favorite resources, generally speaking it is easier to build a smaller domain. Less time deciding what to put in your domain equals less time agonizing over how to build your domain.

Strengths to larger domains
While these all seem like pretty compelling reasons to build a 50-resource domain, don't be so easily swayed: there are plenty of reasons to consider a larger domain, too.

You acquire a lot of resources in Conquest. In most trading card games, you draw one card per turn. In Conquest, it's two resources per term, plus a barter if you choose to, as well as additional abilities to acquire resources. With a level 3 modern metropolitan out, you'll acquire three resources per term, plus bartering and additional resources. That only gives your 50-resource domain about 10-15 terms before your domain is run dry, give or take a few terms.

Beware of barter-phobia. If your domain is too small, you may get into a position where you choose not to barter simply because your domain is running low. This leaves you at a significant disadvantage, missing out on valuable resources that could determine the outcome of the match. When you have a handful of enemy units ready to assault, you can't afford to be squeamish about bartering.

Conquest matches can be long. No doubt, a war in Conquest can easily go on for an hour or more. In a tournament, the time limit might save you, but you have no such luck in a private match without a time limit. There's nothing more demoralizing than losing a build-up war because your opponent has a larger domain.

Conclusion
If you are using a standard domain that doesn't have a lot of excess, extraneous resources (the types of resources that are bartered a lot), doesn't acquire extra resources, and doesn't have any domain-destruction air resources such as rummage, then you'll probably be OK with a 50-resource domain. However, if you're just using one or two of most of your resources, consider the advantages of adding a few copies of your core resources and bumping up to 60. This will give you several more terms, which can spell the difference between surrender and victory.

Unless you have a really extreme case, I wouldn't recommend using more than 80 resources in a domain. I've been known to build 80-resource domains myself (generally in Industrial craftsman-build domains), but I wouldn't dare go further. Not only is there a lot more likelihood of drawing an imbalance of resources early on, but it can be a doozy to shuffle!

So what's you're ideal domain size? This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it