Saturday, January 25, 2020

Why the Hall, Not? (#5)


Being one to never miss an opportunity for a nerd correction, BenHosp informed me that Shankar Story Time in WtHN #4 had details wrong. That took place at the first Manassters, not Man2. Thank you Ben, in a world of fake news it's very important that a star track cardz blog have it facts straight.

The Hosp (Imagine if The Rock had a tumor... no wait, the tumor would have more charisma and muscle mass) is the current GLORY Heavyweight Champion. Somehow, in the beautiful chaos that was the SuperRoundRobin at the Texas Invitational Tournament (TITs), Ben emerged with my title. I believe he beat MVB somewhere towards the end of the Gauntlet Match (shocking that Mike has never won the Big Gold Belt). The bad news for Ben is that I'm exercising my rematch clause (the classic 'rasslin gimmick) at Manassters 3: A 3-Day Argument About the Democratic Primary. Ben's chances of winning are as bad as his chances at being the next 2E Brand Manager. And if Sandy "The Sandman" Barnabas or Kenny "Omega" Brant enter the match I'll send them back up I-95 in tears. My manager Cameron (you can read his new decklist article on the CC's main page) has the hot tech and I'm now unstoppable. It's time to remind you nerds why I am THE GAME!

Today's "unremarkable" (according to Brian Sykes) nominations come from Ben. They almost got lost in the shuffle while Ben was still banned from the boards. Ben says he has all the angles covered with these nominations: one card is overpowered, one card has 'had it's run', and the other is "format eugenics" (trying to make a cleaner format). Although he can't remember what card fits what designation. 

Card: Luther Sloan, Man of Secrets
Last Year's Vote: Not Nominated
2020 Prediction: 45%

Like Klingon Riker, it's shocking Luther couldn't even garner a nomination last year. They have similar careers, seen a ton 'back in the day' but slowly trending downward the last decade. It was always rubbish that Luther Sloan was running around in TNG decks throughout those early years of 2E. Nine years ago they finally set things right with a DS9 (and slightly better) version of Luther Sloan. So there's not much of an argument to not retire the original version.

Card: D'deridex Advanced
Last Year's Vote: Not Nominated
2020 Prediction: 30%

This is a curious nomination. I'm inclined to vote yes solely to retire the worst card image of any of the three Trek games. Quite a number of those terrible 'ass end' images of ships in Premier. On the one hand, I have been bitching to people to nominate non-uniques. On the other, this is where Ben wants to start? The NeuRomulus HQ got this ship a few more miles, but I really wish I was writing about the Excelsior.


Card: Feast of the Dying
Last Years Vote: Not Nominated
2020 Prediction: 40%

I'll give BenHosp credit for picking three 'not nominated' cards. This is an easy Yes vote for me because there's no benign use for Feast. It only shows up in degenerate strategies. Starting with Mr. Beal and his Far Seeing Eyes decks many years ago. I did a quick decklist search to see the cards that people were looking to play over and over again: Imperial Entanglements, Uninvited, Biogenic Weapon, Cascade Virus, Secret Conspiracy, Central Command. Basically, nothing fucking good. Usually cards that are going to keep the game going on forever. In 2E getting cards out of the discard pile is supposed to be difficult (with the exception of Bajorans), and two cards for 4 cost isn't a high enough cost. Costs that should be based on affiliation flavor, not a generic event.

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