What a Card: Amanda Grayson

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. More from The Voyage Home, as the crew spends time on Vulcan while Starfleet has problems with the probe...

EXPANSION: The Motion Pictures

PICTURE: Spock's mom has very expressive eyes and a kind expression, and is bathed in the golden light of Vulcan. Good contrast with her veil as well, this is a nice and appropriate 3.6.

LORE: Almost poetically philosophical, mirroring many of her speeches (in "Journey to Babel" as well as Star Trek IV), this is a good effort that thankfully avoids the phrase "Mother of Spock." A 3.6 again.

TREK SENSE: Her husband may be an ambassador, but she's just a Civilian, fair enough. Nevertheless, she was also a diplomat of sorts, trying to reconcile Sarek and Spock. This would also afford her a certain measure of Honor, I think. The Anthropology comes from understanding and living in an alien culture all her life. She's got the high Integrity that goes with her skills and attitude, is pretty smart in her own right, but at this point is an older woman. All attributes check out. The one thing that doesn't quite ring true is the special skill. See, while Sarek seems pretty used to bringing his wife along on diplomatic missions, it hasn't always been Amanda. And Spock doesn't spend much time with his mother at all! So while we could thematically accept that her family could report to her location (they were spending time with her at this point in the story), there are just too many Sareks and Spocks for this to be an "any" situation. Cases in point, the Premiere Sarek had another wife entirely, First Officer Spock is from another universe (which no doubt had its own Amanda Grayson, but not this one) and she was long dead when the TNG Spock was around. The rest is fine though (and this problem isn't that bothersome), so a 3.4.

STOCKABILITY: Amanda can actually report a small Vulcan army to her side for free when you consider that there are 2 Sareks and 3 Spocks that aren't versions of the same persona and could exist side by side. The only choice to make is if you include Mr. Spock or Captain Spock in your deck. Otherwise, both Sareks can be included, giving you a huge Diplomacy boost (Amanda also has an instance of that skill), and 3 Spocks with even more Diplomacy and a number of SCIENCE-related skills. If you're going for a Vulcan Diplomacy deck, you should definitely include Amanda Grayson - she'll get you those mains in a jiffy in any OS/CF deck. And thankfully, she isn't just a reporting engine, she's got skills of her own, 3 of them, all of which can be made useful. Fairly good attributes aside from the STRENGTH, so watch out for her until you've got all your guys on the table. A good, if specific, 3.6.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) No doubt a Vulcan would go lower, but I like her - I'm only human.

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