Well, I got in trouble again. Not so much trouble as the Charlie Plaine "stern text of disapproval". He's entitled to his opinion, as I am. I still don't feel I pulled up the curtain, or showed how the sausage is made. I didn't name any names, or call anyone out. I just said there's disagreement on solving the "Maquis Problem". Any group is going to have competing opinions. I don't think I dropped any bombshells about the inner working of the CC.
But I am an advocate for a certain level of transparency. When the circle gets too tight, and people are left to their own devices, mistakes get made and bad things happen. This has already happened in the CC, and I have no reservations reminding them when they inch back in that direction.
I'm not a member of the Continuing Committee. Remember, I was fired many years ago. I made a couple guys lose their marbles and they demanded my head, and they got it. I'm on board now as a member of the design team for the next set. I'm not sure what position that puts me in. I'm kinda a freelancer, but I know it comes with certain rules. I know I couldn't write here about possible cards in the next set or cry if something I wanted got cut or that Mark Foreman asks me what I'm wearing during every Skype meeting (Canadians are freaky). But because of the tiny bit of work I'm doing for them I was privy to some errata discussion. I think my last blog showed there's a slight problem with how the errata process works now. First it was Keller and his "Secret Council", now it's Charlie and the Errata Gang. No process will be perfect, nobody expects that. It's not an easy job and I don't envy the person in charge of it. But if it costs me future workings with the CC because I brought a little transparency to the process then so be it. Truth is a messy business, and people don't like it when you show that their capable of mistakes. We all do it, and the CC shouldn't be afraid to lift the curtain from time to time.
Let's do some cards. We're going to the 3rd v-set, Raise the Stakes. This set is almost 4 years old now, and it's not aging like fine wine. Right now it boast three of the most dangerous cards in 2E, in my opinion. B'aht Qul Challenge, Alarming Rumors and Cal Hudson, Convincing Recruiter. And there's a few other cards I've heard people say they just don't like, Bird-of-Prey for example. I don't want to bash Brad, and whoever helped on this set. The cards are what they are. But it's good to look back on them, take what's good and bad, and use it in the future.
Why: It's the only way to play skill tracking these days. I give Design credit, there have been no new cards in a long time that can pop any skill. Skill gaining was way, way too easy in the last Decipher sets. They lost all respect for skill gaining. That's what led us down the road of too many non-skill dilemmas, then the backlash from that. Sadly, the old skill gainers are still around. Navaar is still good, Gav is still with us, etc. But I noticed their use starting to decline about a year ago. So I made a TOS deck with Coordinated Counterattack and a pile focused on Infinite Diversity. I wanted to bring skill tracking back, and I was surprised to find out you still can do it. The deck went 4-0 and my faith in 2E was restored. As a bonus, this card completely nerfs Cadets. Suck on that Nicholas Lacarno, a.k.a. Fake Tom Paris.
Why: Isn't the six Bajoran anthropology people I paid for enough of a cost for this card? Every time I want to pop this into a Bajoran deck that 5 cost scares me away. The 5 cost makes it a late game card at best, and at that point the game is probably decided. If it was 2 or 3 cost it could become at least a mid-game card and see some play. The effect is powerful, but I don't think it's as powerful as Design thought it was going to be. The effect happens at the 'end of turn'. A few wonky things could happen before my turn to screw it up. And if my opponent hits a Mugato it makes this card useless. Even if I get my card, I have to pay one to draw the thing. That's more paying after the 5 cost and the six anthro bums I had to spit out first. Too many hoops to jump through for an effect that can get screwed with. I'll just stick with Souls of the Dead.
1 comment:
I agree the cost of Duranja is too steep, but it does get back interrupts and events from the discard pile which is great.
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