Being a look back at cards from the Star Trek CCG, and what I thought of them back when they were fresh and new... in EPISODE order. Christmas is past, but how about one last gift..?
PICTURE: Zuh? Q on Q's Planet with its twin moons in the background. While the line used for lore may have been uttered here, the picture lacks both drama and relevance to the card's effect. Since the Gift is turning Riker into a Q, why not a shot of him, or of one of HIS gifts? Even lamer thanks to a setting that reminds me of the Original series... a 1.3.
LORE: Fairly appropriate. A gift beyond all other gifts? A 100 points? Yeah, you could say that. :-) Inspired title, by the way. Big gift, but easily taken away. A real tease. 3.8.
TREK SENSE: In the show, Q gave Riker the power of the Q. I don't think that translates as 100 points though. Where there are points, Trek sense demands some sort of goal-accomplishment. Maybe Q can subvert that. In any case, Q only makes you win the game if you hadn't really started it yet. And why can Countermanda nullify it, but not Amanda Rogers? No Trek sense there either. The card could have conferred Q status to a personnel, perhaps giving it control over the Q-Continuum, I don't know, but as it is, it scores a 0.5 due to some conceptual considerations.
STOCKABILITY: I often hear, "Why would I use this if it's going to make my opponent win the game?" Well, you wouldn't. You would use it to make YOURSELF win the game. How? Through a little-used strategy (little-used because it probably won't work) that requires you to stock plenty of copies of both Gift of the Tormentor and Are These Truly Your Friends, Brother? (as mentioned last week). Gifts go into your opponent's discard pile and Your Friends makes you pull one out, scoring the 100 points yourself. Just make sure your opponent never goes into a Flash with zero points by seeding The Higher... the Fewer in front of them. Of course, you could waste a Q-Continuum slot on a single copy of each of these cards just in case. Would be a hoot too if you won by sheer luck. A strange one responsible for very few victories... a 1.7.
TOTAL: 7.3 (36.5%) Who's the Tormentor now? ;-)
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