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. Another belated review on one of the alphabetically later cards from The Motion Pictures expansion...
PICTURE: One of THE great moments of the film franchise, but as a card image, it does suffer a bit from the reflections on the pane of transparent aluminum between us and Spock, and from Kirk not looking his friend in the eye. The Vulcan salute is reflected in the lore's point about logic, and he's holding up all fingers as if to imply "the many". A 3.5.
LORE: The ellipses in the title is somewhat awkward, but reveals its meaning in the lore which completes the exchange. Adding the duality of nobility vs. logic is an interesting commentary on Spock's choice that's not from the film itself, except obliquely. Scores a 4.
TREK SENSE: A ship is about to be destroyed, just like the Enterprise in ST II, and one of that ship's crew is killed instead. It's the ultimate sacrifice for SOMEone, and that works whether it's a dilemma or a Tactic damage marker (but apparently not with old-school battle damage). Fine, but things fall apart from there because it's your opponent's choice. Why would Khan, in this example, having anything to do with the sacrifice. Wouldn't he rather the ship explode?! It DOES make sure it hurts - one's opponent wouldn't exactly think it a good idea to get rid of a cheap universal - so if one's opponent is Fate (bad luck), then ok, you can almost see it. I'm not going to be too picky and will give it a 3.3.
STOCKABILITY: It's always better to lose a single personnel card than a ship and ALL personnel cards aboard, so even if it makes you lose you Spock (to name a usually very useful and powerful card), it's a good deal (and movie Spock can return to your hand, haha). Yes, your opponent can screw with you, but they already had the upper hand, so that's on you. Best case scenario is under dilemma conditions. Since the dilemma is destroyed, any other effects it might have are also nullified. You don't have to face it again if you didn't have the conditions. Worst case scenario is in a standard ship battle where the players aren't using Tactics. Your ship is destroyed anyway. Destroying a single damage marker saves your ship and crew for another turn, but it may still be damaged, so that's the middling effect. All in all, it's a security that you better have in hand at the right moment, and you can never be sure. Better to bank on strategies where this is unlikely to happen in the first place. Mitigating factors hold it back at 3.6.
TOTAL: 15.4 (77%) It really is an iconic moment.
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