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. Along with Mirror, Mirror, the other TOS episode that gets a lot of play is The Trouble with Tribbles, which is also the name of an expansion. Strap in, we'll be here a while. The expansion introduced two new card types, Tribbles and Troubles, and the former are right at the top of the list and comes out of a special breeding side-deck! This is unusual, but I'm going to suspend the rule that cards from the same episode are shown alphabetically to start with the Doorway card that allows those cards to enter play. It's gonna make more sense that way...
PICTURE: Though it's still a funny pic, it's disappointing to see the same exact image from 100,000 Tribbles (as you'll see), only zoomed-in a little more. It does fix the problem with the fake-looking tribbles over his head, and with "Clone" being in the corner of the Tribbles card, well, you can sort of forgive the duplication, can't you? The doorway aspect isn't well represented, so that element's a little weaker, but it's still a classic... 3.9. I'll give the same to 100,000 Tribbles.
LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)
TREK SENSE: Quite conceptual, the Door seems to open everywhere in play at the same time. It's representative of the Tribbles' ability to sell and breed, and perhaps all the grain in the Storage Compartment is the symbol of that breeding, but in actuality, that's not where the Tribbles started. They started at their now-destroyed homeworld, and came to us via Cyrano Jones. Still, it's cute that the side-deck is topped with this card, and the deck is full of Tribbles. Each turn - and this is mechanical - you draw up to three options for your Tribbles (will they breed? new batch? Troubles?). Stocked in the deck, the card can be used to download just what you need, giving the breeding/troubling habits more logic. And as usual for the card type, the doorway can re-open itself if closed. Cute, but essentially a license to use Tribbles. No more than a 1.2.
SEEDABILITY: A Tribbles strategy only requires one seedling, this one, and then basically runs independently from your deck and hand. Cheap, and the results can be quite aggravating to your opponent. Tribbles can stop personnel, lower their attributes, prevent mission attempts, remove skills, kill Ooby Dooby and Colony strategies, prevent probing and free reporting, and reduce mission points. Add Troubles, and they can stop ships, reduce their attributes, suspend Process Ore, conducting services and matching commander bonuses, limit Away Team numbers, and spread even more than usual. The Tribble Bomb adds a little more spice. You draw as many as three, and what you don't immediately use goes face-up into the side-deck, to be reshuffled later. Stocking SCD in your deck can come in handy too, since downloading can give you the missing link between the threesome you pulled. You can ensure breeding sequences or the right Trouble card this way. And you never know, always good to have a back-up to keep Revolving Door away from your side-deck. Tribbles are a complication for the player using them, but the annoyance can be worth it... as long as the Tribbles don't get in YOUR way. And they can. So this is slightly better in cross-quadrant games, for example. I'd say the card - and thus the side-deck - is maybe worth 3.5, though a lot of players feel it slows down the game to much.
TOTAL: 11.47 (57.33%) Aww, but they're so soft and cuddly!
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