Landsraad of Las Vegas Meta

This article explains the expanded Treachery Deck for higher player counts. It is Part Two of the design analysis; Part One, The Treachery Deck and the Four Pillars of Dune, establishes the goals and principles behind Treachery Deck construction.

The guiding framework for all decisions below is the Four Pillars of Dune: Cost, Scarcity, Minimums, and Deduction. As player count increases, each pillar is stressed differently, and the Treachery Deck must be adjusted carefully to preserve balance.

Seven Players

At seven players, the classic 33-card Treachery Deck becomes insufficient. Too many cards end up locked in players’ hands, starving the auction and breaking the game’s pacing. Additional cards are required—but which cards are added matters as much as how many.

For seven players, add the following cards:
Basilia Weapon, Snooper, Hunter-Seeker, Shield, Thumper, Harvester, and Kull Wahad.

This raises the cards-per-player ratio slightly from 5.5 to 5.7 while preserving the same percentage distribution found in a six-player game.

Additional combat cards are required at this count. With more hands in play, weapons and defenses would otherwise disperse too thinly, allowing stalling tactics to dominate. A fifth copy of the basic combat cards prevents this and preserves pressure.

The overall power level of the deck decreases slightly due to the inclusion of Thumper, Harvester, and a Worthless card. This is intentional.

All seven cards added at this count are found in the First Expansion - Ixians & Tleilaxu.

Eight Players

At eight players, only four additional cards are required to maintain the ideal ratio of roughly 5.5 cards per player. To restore the deck’s power curve, add:
Weirding Way, Chemistry, Truthtrance, and Karama.

Weirding Way and Chemistry fit cleanly into the existing combat framework and can be defended against using normal tools. Karama and Truthtrance are added to maintain their ratios; without them, these effects would rarely appear at higher counts.

At this count, there are enough combat cards in circulation to maintain tension while preserving scarcity. Players can still make informed win attempts, knowing opponents may lack specific weapon or defense types.

Weirding Way and Chemistry come from the first expansion; additional Karama and Truthtrance can be printed from Game Tools [LINK].

Nine Players

Nine-player Dune is a full-day commitment and demands careful tuning. Through extensive Landsraad testing, several cards were identified as actively harmful to the experience and removed. The following additions have proven reliable:
Flamethrower, Stun Gas, Hollow Armor, Spice Blow, Orange Catholic Bible, and Ornithopters
If Richese is in the game, Water of Life replaces Ornithopters.

Flamethrower and Stun Gas do not award leader spice. Stun Gas incapacitates without killing, while Flamethrower leaves nothing to harvest.

Hollow Armor continues the theme same as the spice-denial weapons. Losing a battle after a defense is thwarted already feels punishing; Hollow Armor softens the economic swing without negating the loss.

At nine players remove the Ornithopters card from the Richese Cache and add it to the main Treachery Deck. Ornithopters functions as a second copy of Hajr while remaining distinct. Adding a third permanent spice blow would create too many points of interest and reduce conflict. Instead, the Spice Blow card provides a temporary surge.

Orange Catholic Bible is a Worthless card that can only be discarded in battle and cannot be exploited by Bene Gesserit or CHOAM abilities. Its conversion effect is thematic and forces circulation when used successfully.

With extra copies of Karama, Hajr, and Truthtrance added, Family Atomics was the next effect considered for duplication. Water of Life fills this role by permanently altering the game state. Add this card to the Richese Cache to fill the place of Ornithopters.

Because swapping positions is extremely powerful, Richese may sell Water of Life deliberately rather than introduce it freely. The card’s value is situational. As someone who has been stuck in turn order before Harkonnen and been hunted relentlessly; there are times where one may have bid all their spice to swap places so they can run away or choose their battles with them. Another option is to strategically move ahead in storm order to gain access to strongholds or move back in turn order to be next to their ally.

At nine players, only three factions are excluded, making Reforged Richese a common inclusion. All these cards in the nine Player expansion can be found in Game Tools.

Beyond Nine Players

Cards for 10-, 11-, and 12-player games have been developed while preserving ratios and percentages. However, these configurations require further testing before release. The seven-, eight-, and nine-player expansions have been played and refined extensively, and we are confident they preserve all Four Pillars of Dune.

Closing Note

At higher player counts, the Treachery Deck does not need more power—it needs more structure. Every card added must reinforce cost, preserve scarcity, guarantee minimum engagement, and protect deduction. When those pillars remain intact, Dune scales without losing its soul.