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. The ships follow each other...
PICTURE: What's that in the sky? Yep, another bird-of-prey. The Pagh features a full-body view of the class, not far from the Lukara (but of course, preceding it). To me, a much cleaner shot than the one used for the universal K'Vort and the best one to show people who want to know which ships are which. Not very dramatic, though. A 3.5.
LORE: The name of the ship is now absurdly identified with the Bajorans (same spelling and everything, though the wraiths use the alternate "pah"), but we shouldn't be surprised that some words sound the same in various languages. It happens here on Earth, too! For example, most English speakers would be shocked by what the word for "seal" (the animal) in French sounds like. Of course, that's not saying the ship was well named by the Star Trek creators. According to the Klingon dictionary, "pagh" means "nothing" or "zero". How would you like to be serving aboard THAT vessel? As for the lore, it starts off by misidentifying the ship as a cruiser instead of a bird-of-prey, though a matching commander is always beneficial. The bit about Riker was the crux of an entire episode and is not forgotten. Not quite average when you factor in everything. A 2.7.
TREK SENSE: This ship was featured so much in an episode, it really deserved some kind of interesting special skill (something having to do with Riker, for example, or at least ALSO make him matching commander). That it doesn't speaks to Premiere's limitations. It's pretty much a standard K'Vort with an extra point of Weapons. No real problem with that, insofar as it was a threat to the bigger USS Enterprise. It seemed to be as speedy as other ships of its class, and since its hull fell victim to a Microbiotic Colony, there's no need to up the Shields either. A boring old 3.5 (can't really argue with anything).
STOCKABILITY: With the same exact stats as the IKC Vorn, you have to wonder why we got this ship as is. All it has over its twin is a matching commander (which doesn't bode well for the Vorn, let me tell ya). And the matching commander has dubious value in your deck. On the one hand, he's easily reportable as a support personnel, and both his skills are useful, but then again, he doesn't have anything you can't get elsewhere. Except the matching commander status, of course (Klingon Riker where art thou?). He can make this ship a 10-10-9 with Plaque and Log, but is still overshadowed by the more recent birds on the market, with their generally higher attributes and big, powerful matching commanders. And universal K'Vorts still have an advantage in armada strategies, so if you're going to include a few Loggable ships in the mix, I'm not sure the Pagh will be your first choice, or even your second or fifth. Its SHIELDS are still pretty low. Around a 3.3 for this rust bucket.
TOTAL: 13 (65%) A Klingon Riker would no doubt have the appropriate special skill to put this one on the map. No one at the time took me hint.
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