We have reached the end of Good Card, Bad Card. Even though, just like the CC, the end came years ago and we just didn't accept it.
These days I'm no longer living in a truck, making a living 'over the road'. I've found a good truck driving job that has me in my bed every night. In hindsight, I think it was impressive I was able to run Design for a short time while driving a truck 11-14 hours a day, 27 days a month. Maybe if I had a more regular job, like I do now, we could've done better work. But let's be honest, if I had more time I would've just meddled with the designers more. Screwed them up with my bad ideas. I think the scenario played out just fine and we did some solid work.
I've always put too much effort into this game. Even in the virtual age, I printed out every set x3, cut them up and put them into binders, just like when the physical cards came out back in the day. I think everyone went to a 'print it out when I need the card' system a decade ago. Having every card in a binder helped me build decks. Well, when I used to build good decks. Getting nerd fired and seeing the current state of affairs in 2E has made me accept the times are changing.
Having all the cards in the binders allows you do two things: Help you not miss a card that can help your deck, and remind you what cards sucked. Cards you never took out of the binder year after year. So with that in mind, I hope to write a new series called Quantum Leap Errata. Each time I'll go over a few cards and talk about changes I would make (or in extreme cases, a complete re-design) to make the card useful.
"The Process" era ended with me working actively on the last expansion, Sacrifice of Angels. Since I was fired I unloaded all my bad ideas into this set. What was there to lose? So for our last GCBC, we'll be looking at two cards from that set.
Why: It works. I threw it out 3 times at the Texas Invitational Tournament and it worked each time. I recall seeing two other people use it and it working both times. That's what you want dilemmas to do, no? Stop fools. Is it a little gimmicky? Sure is. That's kind of the episode, was it not? I think this is a good card because it makes you reexamine older cards. Making a Bajoran deck for Connor I put in Mora Pol. That guy hasn't gotten off the bench in years. I've heard a few grumblings about this card, and it's for the usual reasons. Craps is a card that clowns you if you forget about it. Accounting for new cards was part of The Process. Maybe that's why I'm out of a nerd job now. ;) My secret reason for loving this card is that it's tech against Assess Contamination. If they're playing the stinky cheese, throw this at 'em, show them your Jeremy Lucas and cash in baby!
Why: The team botched this one. First off, Mirror Starfleet doesn't have cards in hand most of the time, so the ability doesn't fit. The most egregious error is no cultural enforcement. You don't need to be playing Mirror Anything to use the mission's ability. That leads to the stinky cheese. Even when you get past the design screwup, the mission itself is too hard. We put too many skills on it, even for a 35 pointer. We got one wrong and I apologize for that. But you miss all the shots you don't take.
Happy Thanksgiving my fellow nerds. I'll be jumping into the Quantum Leap Accelerator now, see you in the past!
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