Wednesday, January 08, 2020

Why the Hall, Not? (#1)





"Why the Hall Not?" will take cards nominated for the 2020 Hall of Fame and I will *probably* make the case for why they should be inducted, unless it's something dumb that Josh Sheets nominated. This edition's cards were nominated by Phil Schrader.
Card: At An Impasse
Last Year's Vote: 51.4%
2020 Prediction: 55% 

I don't know what kind of history a card needs to make the Hall of Fame then being part of a broken deck that won Worlds. I believe the 2nd deck of the Pulsfort Worlds of Brokenness had a never ending At An Impasse. Needless to say, that wasn't a fun weekend. Now Phil might not be thinking of history, and has to deal with a sociopath who only plays Romulan or Maquis. Either way, this card has the career and the NPE stank on it to earn a hard Yes vote.

Card: Well-Prepared Defenses
Last Year's Vote: 51.4%
2020 Prediction: 50%

Here we have another card that came up 5 votes short last year. It's hard to argue with this dilemma's career. Raise the Stakes came out in 2009 and I can't recall ever going too long without seeing it. If you vote purely for gameplay reasons (We'll save that debate for another day) let me plead to retire all dilemmas that require "no talent" to play. I don't care for dilemmas that require no skill tracking and are 'automatic'. Sure, you could probably come up with a blank if you run into a bigger mission deck, but that's never happened to me. Strangely, more than a few times I've had mission require the same total amount. Which means the dilemma works for both players. And not for nothing, I think it's undercosted by 1. Solid career. I don't expect it to make it, but it should.

Card: Hindrance
Last Year's Vote: Not Nominated
2020 Prediction: 30%

We have to talk about Errata. Does that factor into your Hall of Fame voting? Since my vote is based on a card's career, it doesn't matter to me. If you're voting based on current gameplay, you're only thinking about the current version. Luckily, this was an errata that didn't kill a card (there's a few of those being discussed by a new Errata administration), and you still see it occasionally. If you need some history of Hindrance, remember the K'mtar days where you killed him over and over AND got more dilemmas. Sick. Nasty. Hence the errata. I'm going to vote Yes, but I suspect a short memory by the Selection Committee.

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