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. Mirror, Mirror ends where the episode began...
PICTURE: Resolution's not incredible, but the TOS crew in Mirror duds is fun enough, with the Terran Empire icon also making an appearance in the background. Hey, was Uhura a little bit off the pad? A 3.4.
LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)
TREK SENSE: The realities of the game create problems for this card, but the basic concept is sound enough. You're engaged in beaming either in the Alpha or Mirror Quadrants (all Mirror missions are in their version of the AQ), and personnel from one universe get switched for the personnel from the other. This is really like seeing it from Spock's point of view, because his own crewmembers are replaced. There is no actual traveling from one universe to the other, so that if you have, say, both Bajors in play, you could not switch your crews around. The initial set of personnel is discarded, which is harsher than the show was. No returns here, but also no conflict arising from mixing the morally-opposite crews. Another flaw is that while uniques are replaced by their opposites, universals are replaced by any other universal from the right quadrant. Makes no sense for a Giusti to be replaced by a Rukor, for example, yet it could happen. And while the Mixup on the show happened to only 4 people, there's no real reason why a Mixup should be limited to this, other than game balance of course. The beaming must occur from a planet, because the trouble was caused by some kind of ionization in the atmosphere. Finally something to agree with. The (quite necessary) limits placed on the effect keep this one at a simple 2.
STOCKABILITY: There are a number of ways to get your Mirror personnel to the Alpha Quadrant, but I'm not sure Transporter Mixup would be a favorite. The Mirrored Bajoran Wormhole only requires a ship (either Mirror or an Alpha pick-up). The Multidimensional Transport Device allows beaming with impunity between quadrants, whereas Transporter Mixup does not. Ah, you say you don't want to use any MQ missions at all? Well, Crossover allows Mirror reporting in the Alpha Quadrant. Did we really need Transporter Mixup then? The answer is no, but Mixup does offer the chance to download personnel from either quadrant by simply discarding (while beaming from a planet, of course) their opposites (or any universal "opposites"). Yeah, that's interesting, but you still have to get the up to 4 personnel you want to do this with out first. And they've gotta be discarded, which isn't something you really want to do with your mains from either universe. If you are using a Mirror Quadrant, then you might have a Nor and Ore Processing in play to recycle those lost personnel. And sure, there are a couple tricks you can no doubt pull with two copies of each Mirror Ferengi (downloading both their Alpha selves, and having left play, themselves again) or Mr. Spock/FOS, but this all seems convoluted, and there are too many restrictions on the effect to really make it better than all other means to get Mirror personnel to the Alpha Quadrant. Perhaps Assign Mission Specialists can set you up for better universals from the other universe. Still a somewhat redundant 2.4.
TOTAL: 10.4 (52%) They went a little overboard in trying to make Mirror personnel playable
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