Good Card, Bad Card #19

Let it snow, let it snow. I'm no scientist, but when every summer is the "hottest ever" and every winter has the "largest snowfall amounts ever" something might be contributing to that. 20,000 since the last Ice Age, maybe that's where we're headed as a planet. I'm no 'doomsday prophet', but you have to think something our species has done in the last 150 years will bite us in the ass. 20 years ago when you saw pictures of India and China they were walking and riding bikes. Well, they all have cars now. A billion more cars.... that can't be good.

Good Card: Vault of Tomorrow

Why: This is the best card most people don't use right now. I rarely see anyone else play it. Do you know what I download the most with it? Timescape. Having, basically, a 3rd timescape (I play two 95% of the time) is awesome. 'Double/Triple crewing' as I call it, is starting to come back around. Now that having non-skill dilemmas is crucial, some players cut cards like timescape. Since players attempt space first dilemma piles have shifted toward lower amounts of planet dilemmas overall. So I find it better to have a utility dilemma like Vault. Grab a dual stopper like Back Room Dealings. Or if I'm desperate go for the ultimate cheese Excaliban Drama. Grabbing Secret ID to get rid of a pesky Kirk or Archer never hurts either.

Bad Card: Gorgan

Why: I get so sad when I run into a Gorgan/Tactical Disadvantage dilemma pile. It's not unbeatable or anything, it just seems like no fun to play. The concept of being able to stop your opponent completely based on cards in your hand never sat well with me. It took the playing ability/skill tracking out of the game. I'm not very good at skill tracking, I should be all about these cards. But I believe the foundation of the game is dilemmas, and you should stop your opponent by knowing what he has out and what potential cheaters he can use. Not just stocking cards in your hands. This dilemma, plus Tactical, is why I've always stocked one copy of The Dreamer and the Dream for the past 3 years.

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Today's Pic: A 3-player, snowed-in, Twilight Imperium game. When your 8 year old takes Metacol Rex from you what do you do? You take it back! Then crush her army to teach her a lesson!!!!

Good Card, Bad Card #18

Trilithium Heist didn't get the 100% support that the new Opaka did, but it was still rated highly positive in the poll. Extreme Measures was looking like an all-star set so far, then Charlie sends me "Isabella". One question, has anyone ever used the persistent keyword ability? Put the dilemma back after you opponent solves the mission? No, the answer is nobody ever has. I've never seen it. Ever. So Isabella will never see the light of day. She'll be stuck in your binder, behind today's 'bad card'. Unless they make some pretty potent persistent dilemmas in the future this card is useless. Personally, I would've thrown in 'cannot gain skills' on the card too. Most persistent dilemmas are 1-cost stoppers and the only good walls require one skill x3. It needs to stop personnel from gaining skills from cheaters as well as abilities. Bottom line, I think keywords are overrated and don't need to be a big part of the game. We certainly didn't need this terrible keyword added by Decipher in the last set they made. Our two card suggestions today come from Nathan Miracle, a.k.a GooeyChewie. If you want to make a suggestion all you have to do is troll the chat room on trekcc.org from time to time and find me.

Good Card: Distant Exploration

Why: I always liked this card. The only time I really played it was in a Borg deck. Download all three with You've Always Been My Favorite and go for the 2 mission win. It's cheap, only 2 counters. So the cost/reward ratio is fantastic. With Extreme Measure all about gaining 5 and spending 5 I think this card will see more play in the future. They should have made more incentive for DS9 decks to do gamma quadrant missions. Their flavor as an affiliation never really had a focus early on. Now it's about being able to protect your events, which is fine. Holding Cell kinda steals their fun a little bit. It's such a strong card you have to use it when playing DS9. After Peak Performance, I don't like being forced to play cards. It's starting to annoy me.

Bad Card: Greed

Why: If I'm lucky, what's the highest number of dilemmas I might get in my opponent core? 2 or 3. 4 if my dilemma pile is super focused on doing that. This won't happen until late game anyways. So here's a drawing card that doesn't let me draw cards until mid or late game. Why the hell would I want that? On top of that terrible scenario, I have to pay a cost. Discard a card to to it, really? I think by now you should let me get those draws for free. What if by late game my guy with Treachery x2 is dead? Then I would want to kill myself. I guess the thought was the 0-cost made it playable. It didn't. They should've drop it to a Treachery personnel, and drop the cost. Even then I wouldn't play it. You would have to make 2 draws for ever dilemma. Even then.......

Good Card, Bad Card #17

Our good Chairman made a post asking the public how to make the Dominion affiliation more competitive. So I took up the challenge and played it in our last league event. I thought I could bring back the old school flavor of the 'Dominion Drawing Machine'. Which consist of Keevan, Hollow Pleasantries, and crapload of Vorta and Jem'Hadar. I added the new Luaran, her free 5 draws when I command a staffed Dominion Battleship was nice. Problem is they can't past any dilemmas, especially space dilemmas. An Issue of Trust (previous 'Bad Card') makes them unplayable as an affiliation. That dilemma might be the 'worst bad card' ever, maybe even more than the one I'm going to rant about....in detail.

Good Card: Keevan, Conniving Liar

Why: If you asked my ex wife she would tell you I have the same subtitle, but I digress..... When I play Dominion I don't play infiltration decks. They're fun, but they're just too slow. I like the Vorta. I liked them in the show, I like them in the game. Sneaky, dirty little bastards. Maybe it takes a guy from Jersey to appreciate them fully. Keevan makes dominion go fast, and I like to go fast. Add in Hollow Pleasantries to make my Vorta cheap or free and I'm loving it. Now if only we can find a way for them to get past dilemmas......

Bad Card: Legacy

Why: Yeah, it was only a matter of time before I got around to this one. Since Peak Performance came out and I was ranting and raving to the Committee I was met with the reply, "Wait and see, wait and see. Give it time." I have, and my verdict is still "Bad Card." The idea behind Legacy is fine. In fact, I support it. That is, to make people play more skill-based dilemma. To get them off the mindless dilemmas any brainless zombie could play. Dilemmas like Gorgan, Tactical Disadvantage, Excaliban Drama, Chula: The Chandra, Hard Time, etc. To do this you need a scalpel, instead they used a butcher's cleaver, and that is Legacy. The problem is, the game has evolved, with help from virtual sets, so that 60% or more (rough guess) of dilemmas don't require a printed skill (far less of a percentage for virtual dilemmas). This might look like a bashing of the virtual cards, it's not, it's a bashing of their complete 180 turn on the game. They pumped out lots of non-skill dilemmas then made them unplayable (With Legacy and Archer). There was no long-term thinking of the impact of Peak Performance. If it was my last set I guess I wouldn't be thinking long term either. Brad made some mistakes in Peak Performance, and when people questioned his logic he decided to simply quit, take his ball and go home. As players we weren't even good enough for an explanation of his logic and maybe admission of any mistakes. True ego is thinking you are above reproach and nobody should question your decisions.

I'm sorry, I didn't set off writing my Legacy rant with Brad in mind. It's just where it lead me and it seemed right. I know Brad a little, met him a few times, played against him in 1E, respect him as a person and designer. However, nobody is perfect and just because you're the lead designer doesn't mean you can't make some mistakes.

The game wasn't ready for Legacy. There are certain cards dilemma piles need depending on your meta. Cards like Timescape (I always play 2), Skeleton Crew (You're now forced to play Transport Crash Survivors), The Dreamer and the Dream (It's the best counter to destroying interrupts really), Moral Choice/Shocking Betrayal (The only true Fed hate), Necessary Execution and The Captain's "Guests" (Best anti-Borg card, cadets too).

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

This best sums up Legacy. Let's hope somebody has the sense to save us from ourselves.

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Today's Pic: The kids playing with the bridge of the USS Enterprise. Ironman is at the helm since we don't have a Chekov or Sulu. At least the new toys don't disappoint the kids like the new movie disappointed their father.....

Good Card, Bad Card #16

You know what the worst part about being in jail for 37 days was? No, not the food. No, not taking a punch from a young Spanish kid trying to be tough in a crowded elevator. It was CSI:Miami. 2 hours of that crap show ever single day. I can handle of lot of things, but subjecting me to that was cruel and unusual punishment. In honor of torture.....

Good Card: Cardassian Processing

Why: Out of all the 'HQ specific' dilemmas this is the only good one. I play the borg one sometimes, but only in a Tragic Turn pile when it's usually the last card. My main beef with the 'HQ dilemmas' is that they're too easy, and when your opponent doesn't have the requirements they usually can't solve the mission anyway. So what good is another random stop? The Cardassian one has easily trackable skills. Law on one side, Honor/Transporters on the other. There are not too many cheap dilemma that can net you an extra captive (which can be really helpful), most cost 4 or more. For a bonus, it's a great anti-Borg card, since the Borg aren't too keen on Law and Honor. The fed dilemma cost too much and way too easy. Bajoran one too easy and not enough reward to use it. The Klingon one has a nice reward, but too easy. The Romulan one has tough skills (Telepathy & Intel), but the reward falls short. And the Maquis, Ds9, and Voyager ones are just big piles of monkey crap.

Bad Card: Bat'leth

Why: It falls into the "Man, I'm tired of seeing this card" category. I've used the actual text on Bet'leth once, and the card was in the 1st 2E expansion! I've said before, I absolutley despise 0-cost equipment, so you can imagine how I feel about Trellium-D (I actually think I hate it more). I know 2E wasn't going to be as rigid as 1E as for 'trek sense', but arms dealers paying for Bat'leths at Kressari Rendezvous for the past 8 years has been retarded. If I could hop in the Trek Time Machine I would go back and add, "To play this equipment you must command Qo'nos,", or "You must command a Klingon" at least.

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Today's Pic: Darrell "Diesel" Minott, at the 2008 Romulus Regional. Darrell just regained the WCT Heavyweight Title on 1/9/11 after the 2 year drought.

Good Card, Bad Card #15

Since Johannes Klarhauser, a.k.a Kaiser, told me my pictures sucked and I need better quality here's a better picture of "the shelf". Top right corner, bottle of '02 Dom Perignon. To be opened when I win Worlds or next Phillies Worlds Series victory, whatever comes first. What kind of German chooses "Kaiser" as handle anyways? After a guy who loses a war and ruins his country. That's like me having the handle "Bush" or "Nixon". What wrong Johannes, somebody already had the handle "Fuhrer"? :)

Good Card: Moral Choice

Why: Problem, TNG is really strong winning multible Worlds. This was a good choice to slow them down. It was a little heavy-handed, but it needed to be done. What I don't like about it is that it hurt decks that weren't nearly as strong, like Maquis, DS9, and Voyager. But 'playing blue', as I call it, is what most players fall back on in big events. I was guilty of this one year, and I got what I deserved, getting knocked out in the quarter-finals. We needed something to get people playing other affiliations, and this got the job done.

Bad Card: Hall of Warriors

Why: If you don't want to help an affiliation that is already good then don't make them a card at all. Klingon ships don't need a weapons or shields boost. The only thing they need help with is their crappy range. So the attributes +1 is really meaningless. Where you really lose me is the cost of the card. 3 is way too much. The risk/reward is too much for an easily destroyable event. If this card cost zero, like Noble Cause (one of the few 'good cards' from Fractured Time), I would consider it. But right now the most useful thing it does is serve as 'cannon fodder' when I glue V-cards to it.

Good Card, Bad Card #14

So I ask Charlie for another spoiler and he sends the "crime" card..... to the guy who spent 37 days in the country jail. The guy invites me on his podcast show and this is how he repays me? Thanks friend. I'm just joking, I don't think Charlie saw the connection, nor would I even be offended if he did. Russian girls, getting kicked out of Origins, I think I deserve my own Trek crime card.

Here we have Trilithium Heist. Technically, this dilemma is two sentences so I should be happy. But it's wordy, any dilemma with a theme is going to be. I'm going to give it a pass since it's trying to get crime cards back into the game. I'm happy about that. Problem is, all the good Thief decks are Non-Aligned and there's that NA super-hating dilemma out there (The Seen and the Unseen). So you have to be careful when deciding to pull the trigger with a thief deck. I doubt this spoiler will be as popular as Opaka was (everyone voted 'Good Card'), but for a theme card I think it's solid. Now to some cards that are solid, and not so solid.....

Good Card: Polywater Intoxication

Why: I love stuff that doesn't go under. That always catches my eye. Also, it's micro-team hate. That always puts a smile on my face. There's nothing better then when your opponent gets cute early in the game and tries a 6 person attempt, then you hit them with Hard Time & Polywater. The downside now is, those types of piles were seriously hurt by Archer and Legacy. Sure, we want people playing more skill-based dilemma, I'm all for that. But in the short term, you help micro-teaming and "jobber drop" (playing a deck with tons of weenies and attempting missions multiple times in a turn). Timescape doesn't require a skill, and that is a very, very important dilemma in 2E. And if none of those reason were enough to be a "good card", how about the picture? Even an android is ready to take care of that.

Bad Card: All-Consuming Evil

Why: There was one thing in ST:CCG that absolutely didn't need any help. That thing was Tragic Turn. I don't know how that went unnoticed during design and playtesting, but it did. Tragic Turn came out so long ago I can't remember the year. Yet, it still wins today (literally, like 4 days ago at US Nationals-West). Not only does it win, it dominates the field if people aren't prepared for it. Last year, at Continentals and Worlds, on Day 2 my first round opponents played Ohhh! Nothing Happened. Both saying, "I thought you were going to play Tragic Turn." Sorry guys, I played that Day 1, when you weren't thinking about it. Then I proceeded to beat them with Borg and Cardassian, both with pretty standard dilemma piles. So we all know what Tragic Turn can do, at least anybody who has a clue. The point of this is that we must be careful in the future not to design ANY cards that help Tragic Turn as much as All-Consuming Evil. Not even half as much.

Good Card, Bad Card #13

Lucky #13. Speaking of "getting lucky" (no, not that kind of lucky), let's talk about random selection dilemmas. These dilemmas you have to successfully hit the random selection for it to work. When it works it's great. When it doesn't, you usually wasted some precious counters and your opponent usually solves the mission. I call them "crapshoot" dilemmas, and I personally hate to use them. But there's some I throw in from time to time.

Good Card: Racial Tensions

Why: This is probably the most popular of the "crapshoot" dilemmas, and with good reason. The cost/reward ratio is excellent. 0-cost for 2 stops is solid. More important, it's chances of hitting are usually pretty good. Unless your opponent is playing Klingon or Borg you usually have a decent shot at hitting it. I should hate this card, it did cost me a Worlds Championship. But even I can't hate on a card that hit when I had 6 humans out of 8 personnel and it still found a way to beat me.

Bad Card: Arena

Why: Cost/Reward is horrible. 3-cost to get rid of one person? Bad Deal. That's like getting a mortgage from Bank of America. On top of that, it's chances of hitting aren't spectacular. Attributes > 18 is a coin flip straight up. If your opponent has any kind of attribute boost cheater and it's not going to work. Now I understand all dilemmas can't be gamebreakers, and trust me, I don't want them to be. I just want to be able to find a reason to stock any dilemma if I want to. You just can't do that with Arena.

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Today's Pic: "The Shelf", my hall of shame, items I've acquired during my Trek career. The WCT Founders Cup, numerous "not winner" trophies from Worlds, Trek books, OTSD boxes, Random Jobber hat, bottles of Schloss Picard, and a Enterprise that makes noise my son Connor likes to play with.

Good Card, Bad Card #12

Rhetoric: the undue use of exaggeration or display; bombast.

The recent events in Arizona made me examine this word. Then it made me examine myself. I didn't like what I saw. I, along with others, in the trek community have been guilty of using this tool. Now of course there's a big difference between a nutjob with a gun and a bunch of dorks yelling each other through a message board. But the underlying negativity is there, much like in America these days. We, as Trek players (trust me, I include myself in this), need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. We're fans of a universe based on Humanist ideals. Which means we are, as humans, responsible for all the good and bad out there. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. Whether you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, as a Trek player you accept the fact that we can always better ourselves. In the words of the great philosopher Jerry Springer, "Take care of yourselves, and each other."

Good Card: Rule of Acquisition #33

Why: We need more cards that make you say something for a cost. It's campy, it's corny, but it's fun. We're all dorks here, why bother hiding it. I think Khan! should make you yell "KHAN!!!!". Means of Control should make you ask your opponent "How many lights do you see?". It brings a little of the 1E flavor back into the game, without all the terribly, terribly worded cards. Plus it's a solid cheater for Ferengi without being overpowered.

Bad Card: An Issue of Trust

Why: When you have affiliations based on honor (Bajoran/Klingon) and ones based on treachery (Cardassian/Dominion) you shouldn't make a card that nerfs them. Hell, Cardies already got smoked by Gomtuu Shockwave, you didn't need to add a filter that absolutely murders them. This dilemma hurt affiliations that were already considered the "weaker" ones. So then you have to overcompensate by making personnel like Neral and Klag. Interrupts like Central Command. All this to fix one bad dilemma.

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Today's Pic: "The Lab"- Where my deckbuilding and 'dark matches' (Got your Jersey dictionary?) at home take place. "The Lab" is trademarked by KillerB Enterprises, I've seen the term used by impostors. It's all good, imitation is the sincerest form.....

Good Card, Bad Card #11

The Chairman, Mr. Charlie Plaine, was nice enough to send me a spoiler to show to you all. The next set is all about scoring 5, losing 5. I'm not sure how I feel about the new mechanic of quick 5 points. I think At What Cost? is going to be a hot card again. On the bright side, maybe you'll see people rocking Khan! more now. As for the new Opaka, I don't see anything wrong with her. She's sacrificing her normal super-high integrity for that 5 points and ability. That's a fair trade. I don't think you'll see her as a future "Bad Card".

As for our 'Good Card, Bad Card' in issue #11, they are nominated today by Josh Sheets, a.k.a. prylardurden. I ask for some nominations in the trekcc.org chat room and these were his two suggestions.

Good Card: Biogenic Weapon

Why: I had to think about this one. I never thought of this card as good for the game before. But now, since there is more event destruction, it's a good card to keep people honest. Josh said it makes people play missions they can actually do. This is true, and makes it a 'good card'. If you stock Historical Research, you better be able to solve it if you need to. It also makes people think twice before they play a deck with 3 space and 1 planet, or 3 planet and 1 space.

Bad Card: Korath, Duplicitous Tinkerer

Why: Josh didn't have to sell me on this one. I've hated Korath for a long time. He gives Klingons an advantage that no other affiliation has. He was the Steel Curtain defense for Neil Timmons' (Ben Hosp's) World winning Krudge/Mara/Tragic Turn monster deck. Emergency Transporter Unit is his best friend, you can play it multiple times if someone gets selected to be killed. He can be downloaded with Guidance of the Council. He has a future icon, so he can be used with Hindrance. He does more for 4 cost then even Kirk, Living Legend.

Ruling New Jersey- Volume 2, Issue 1

When I posted this on the "Good Card, Bad Card" thread on trekcc.org it reminded me of the old Ruling New Jersey articles. So I figured, what the hell, let's give it another go. 6 1/2 years later, divorced, 37 days in jail, back with my original 'baby momma', two more kids, a house, a dog. I would hope I have a new perspective on things now. But I'm sure I'm still pretty much full of crap. Here's what I posted:

I was wandering the internet like a hobo and I came across this article: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/A ... aily/mr11b

It list 3 different types of players. It reminded me of this article I wrote 6 1/2 years ago: http://rulingnewjersey.blogspot.com/200 ... sue-4.html

True, there's a lot of crap in most of those articles, but that was one of the good ones. Jesus, that was a long time ago..... so old....... Btw, the female in that pic is now called "She Who Shall Not Be Named".

The point of the articles were kinda the same, players play for different reasons. Got me thinking on what types of players are left in Trek.

The "ultra competitive" players (like myself back then) are pretty much extinct. There are no more big prizes, so you don't get the pure gamer who just wanted to win anything. They are the type that played any deck. They begged, borrowed, stole ideas until they made up the best possible deck and won. I think this is why you don't see anybody that wins Worlds stick around. Once they accomplished that goal there was no reason to continue. I'm kinda the last of the Mohicans now, and I'm not quite sure why I stuck around. Sure, I never won the big one, but other guy just gave up when they failed. Trust me, winning Worlds would be great, but at this point it wouldn't change anything. After all these years playing, I don't think I'd just walk off into the sunset like most Worlds winners do. I would probably just make a post that said "Suck it Clowns!" and then go lose a game to Len on my kitchen table.

I think most players now are the type that just want to make a deck they came up with and it to work once or twice in a 4 round tournament.

The others fall into my category, they want to win with what they make. Deckbuilding is just as an important part of it as playing. 3 out of 4 is acceptable, but they want to win the tournament.

Then every now and then, before worlds, groups of a few guys get together, put their minds into the combinations of cards that beat the game. They usually succeed and then you get your Worlds winner.

Good Card, Bad Card #10

Good Card: Repressed Message

Why: It's a fun card. It leads to things interesting things. Last time I played it I stopped a Borg player with his own An Issue of Trust. This game is better when cool stuff happens.

Bad Card: This Side of Paradise

Why: It doesn't do what it's suppossed to do. Last time I played against Tragic Turn I had this event in my core. I attempted with 10, 9 didn't survive. Why? Because all the good dilemmas that go with TT stops the personnel then kills them. Whoops. So unless they change this event to include stopped personnel as well, this event is as worthless as a Glenn Beck opinion.

Good Card, Bad Card #9

Good Card: Anneli

Why: I love my non-uniques. The "backbone" personnel are the key to a successful affiliation, an idea that's getting lost these days. Anneli is my favorite Bajoran. 1 Cost for 6-6-6 basically. Can't beat that.









Bad Card: Borg Queen's Vessel, Borg Flagship

Why: The only nice thing I can say is that the ship looks cool. If you're going to put a 4 sentence ability on a ship at least make it good. Nobody has ever used this ship let alone it's dumb order. Speaking of which, has anybody ever used the persistant keyword on a dilemma? I never have or seen it used. Worst keyword.....ever.

Good Card, Bad Card #8

Good Card: Show Trial

Why: I realized something during 2010, all the best dilemmas are 2 sentences. Dilemmas that take up the whole card with a paragraph annoy me almost as a set with every personnel with 3 lines of text. But they got this one right. 2 cost, stops a guy and then a little bonus if your opponent is winning. It's not dummy proof, if your opponent doesn't have a leadership or medical you could whiff. So you have to think a little.

Bad Card: Trellium-D

Why: Man, when they plotted that damaged Enterprise crew they tried to give them everything. A guy who blanks non-skill dilemmas, and a bodyguard for him. D'Vela + Tricorder to get past any skill dilemma. A guy who stops battle. A guy who stops kill dilemmas. A broken interrupt that plays from the next room. Then to top that off a 0-cost equipment to feed Grav-Trap. And it help you draw cards! Wow! I though they learned from Klingon TT/Mara/Koroth that you can't give a deck monster offense and defense, but I guess not. They have slowed the Archer deck down a little, but Trellium-D is available to every race, by throwing in a crappy mission as your 4th. I absolutly despise 0-cost eqiupment. Bat'leths make Kressari stupid, but at least you can't blow them up with Grav-Trap. By the way, it looks like crack pipe.

Good Card, Bad Card #7

Good Card: M'Pella, Seductive Employee

Why: I just like her. She has a neat ability. She let's you play Dabo!. And if you don't like playing Dabo! then you just hate fun.

Bad Card: Survey New World

Why: Let me count all the times I've played SNW and all the times I've played against it...... over 1,000. Seriously. That's terrible. 29 strength for 35 points!? Wow. I guess they though the losing a guy if you fail was going to counterbalance the ridiculous easiness of the mission. They were way wrong. Hell, all your guys gets stopped and who cares. In hindsight, they should've made it so you lose two people if you fail.

Good Card, Bad Card #6

Good Card: A Few Minor Difficulties

Why: Problem, Dominion Defiant and other 'bad ships'. This solution was ok, but I would've made it stronger. The last sentence shouldn't even be on there. In fact, it should return to hand when destroyed. Hello, Korath? Got him and it's a breeze blowing up. It's still a ok card, but I don't know why they got scared at the end.

Bad Card: Lwaxana Troi, Extravagant Ambassador

Why: She's not bad herself, it's who she helps. TNG was already being played too much at Worlds. Then Lwaxanna + These are the Voyages made these decks super-fast. All the guys who won Worlds with Worf, Brunt-sniping, (you know who you are) should thank the short sighted person who came up with Lwaxana.

Good Card, Bad Card #5

Good Card: Exocomp

Why: It's a good meta card. If you suspect somebody is bringing battle you can toss a couple of these bad boys in. It also gives a little help, but they still get rocked by kills from battle. You can't rock Exo's and ETU's, not unless you don't want any personnel. Funny, instead of giving a personnel with the new Malcom Reed ability they should've given it to a personnel. Just a thought.....

Bad Card: Uninvited

Why: They didn't consider some things when making this card. One, it needed some sort of cost. Two, the 0-cost Excaliban Drama. The ability to download a bad dilemma with a bad interrupt makes me a sad clown. Also, you can give Tragic Turn a boost by downloading Entaglement and getting +3 to spend. Basically, it cost nothing to do something awesome.

Good Card, Bad Card #4

Good Card: Pitching In

Why: I'm all for any weenie hate. 4 cost for 2 stops is fair, even if you have to pay retail for this dilemma. It does require some skill-tracking to play. If you play it and your opponent doesn't have any of those skills you miss a stop. That usually leads to a solved mission. So it does require some skill to play.







Bad Card: James T. Kirk, Original Thinker

Why: I think we all know why. ? Really? That doesn't even make sense. He was worded so poorly when he came out, all the headaches they must've caused poor Mr. Keller..... Hopefully, the errata on Captain on the Bridge will slow him down. I had him in my Android deck a couple weeks ago. That's just stupid.

Good Card, Bad Card #3

Good Card: Necessary Execution

Why: Problem, everyone does planet first. This dilemma was a great solution. It's has a proper cost. It's simple, I love a dilemma with 2 sentences. I'm not a fan of dilemmas that take up the entire card.

Bad Card: Excalbian Drama

Why: I don't hate the space version of this card actually, at least that one is cunning. A 0-cost auto-stop (if you have enough cards in hand) is way to strong. Kris Sonsteby, aka LORE, and I agree (which is rare) on one thing in the trek universe, we don't like cards that require no talent (skill tracking, cost tracking, etc.) to play. Cards like Gorgan, Tactical Disadvantage, etc. Also, this card murders Cardassians, and other affiliations that have low integrity personnel (Dominion, Maquis). And decks that do planet mission super easy, integrity based decks like Federation and Bajoran, don't have to worry about this dilemma. That doesn't make sense to me.

Good Card, Bad Card #2

Good Card: Nel Apgar

Why: In Jersey he's simply known as 'Dirty Nel'. He's as old school as it gets. Cunning 7, and some free draws... hot damn thats a sweet deal!

Bad Card: Mot, The Barber

What a terrible idea. That whole last Decipher set is full of bad cards. He was super bad before the errata, but even now after I still hate that card. What were they thinking giving (an affiliation that was already super strong) more help? If I was in the design room when that card was pitched I would've said, "What are you f*cking retarded?".

Good Card, Bad Card #1

I started a thread titled "Good Card, Bad Card " on trekcc.org a few months back. So the first 10 I wanted to archive here and then continue the articles in a blog format, and dusting off the old Ruling New Jersey articles and giving them a go again.
Here's #1.......

Good Card: Instigate Dissension
Why: Problem, people using Brunt for sneaky event destruction. This card was an excellent solution. But, it also remains useable in every dilemma pile. This is key in 2E. 'Magic bullets' (cards to counteract a popular strategy) in 1E were straight and to the point, you could get away with that with cards. You can't do that in 2E (well, because you should never get to that point), so the card needs to be a solid overall card. 4 cost for 2 stops is a fair deal. Add on top of that, it makes for the best dilemma used in a No-Win Situation deck.

Bad Card: Ruling Council
Why: I know, I've made my hatred for this card clear the past two months, so this won't be just a pure rant. In a nutshell, it's the 2E version of the 1E card 'Distortion of the Space/Time Continuum'. If you played 1E you know that's not a good thing. Problem, Terok Nor sucks. But giving them a super powerful 1E card wasn't the answer.