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. I'm watching youuuuuuuuuu...
PICTURE: While the screen within a screen is neat enough (hmm, what part of Kirk is Marlena looking at there?), everything that surrounds that tiny screen is pretty bad. The set design, the colors, the composition, the focus... A yucky 1.6.
LORE: Well done, I think. It doesn't try to explain the device too much (because it was pretty ridiculous), places it into context, and though the last sentence is a little bizarre, it's the truth. A competent 3.3.
TREK SENSE: The Artifact must be acquired by a Mirror Universe ship, the crew of which no doubt kills the scientist responsible, just as Kirk did, rendering it Unique in the process. The Artifact could be uncovered in the Alpha Quadrant, which isn't impossible (the Mirror scientist must've had an opposite), but we may have to accept that he's been dead a long time, and we're just digging up the Artifact now, since after all, there are no OS-era missions. Then again, the AU and OS icons (even if the latter has little effect - it allows play at Sherman's Peak without an AU Door) may allow you to meet the inventor anyway. In any case, the effect is simple: Kill anyone, anywhere at the Field's location (barring only the two Enigmas whose existence is "anomalous"). The payment is rather mechanical, and even if tied to some kind of high energy expenditure (that bearded Spock never noticed?), there's no real reason beyond game balance why universals and uniques should have a different cost. Hard to mess up the effect itself, but the mechanics around it are sometimes iffy: a 3.
SEEDABILITY: The perfect assassin card, the victim doesn't need to be "present" to be killed. Just flying the Mirror ship to the right location is enough. The ability is completely reusable each turn, and anyone can be targeted except the Borg Queen and the Mirror Quadrant Fontaine. The trade-off is a discard, an expensive one to kill a unique personnel, but that shouldn't be too bad with the Mirror Universe having protected access to Process Ore's recycling. "Probe-rigging" might also be an answer. Reasons to kill specific personnel abound, from locking your opponent out of their current mission, to eliminating tough personnel battle competition, to ridding a ship of its matching commander, to removing a special skill from the game. You might even target your own personnel if their death would be helpful (worth points, or targeted by certain dilemmas). And while acquiring Artifacts can be a pain, you don't need to acquire this one. James Tiberius Kirk downloads it as if acquired. Download the ISS Enterprise at Halkan Council, make it download that JTK, and you've got the Tantalus Field on your first turn. A short hop to opponent's facility might, and you can start killing personnel as they report. And if they come after you, it can protect itself by killing off those that would destroy your ship (the card's real weakness - protect that ship well). A very nasty card worth a nasty, nasty 4.6.
TOTAL: 12.5 (62.5%) Just passes, but you can't argue with its usefulness.
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