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. Hide and Q gave us 13 cards, so let's waste no time...
PICTURE: As this was the first Q-card, alphabetically, let me make a few comments about the graphics on these: First, the Q-icon is fine. A bit silly looking perhaps, but functional. The white on black design, I like. My Q-Continuum is off the spaceline, dark like outer space and the infinite depths of the imagination. The black also highlights the picture which is: Nice colors and a striking image. When this frame appeared on the show, I couldn't really make out any "serpent", but here we can easily see them on the sphere without all the distortion and rotation. (What kind of fauna IS this??? What you get when you cross a cobra and an Edo Probe?!) And the Easter Egg is totally unobtrusive. Good thing too, because it's pretty obscure. They put "Glenda" on the doors because the designers were reminded of The Wizard of Oz because of the bubble... Uhm, sounds like a You thing, guys. A pretty 4.5.
LORE: Not much to work with on Q-cards as they're no more than quotations from members of the Q-Continuum. This one, like most, is fine. Certainly illustrates the game text where the title and picture do not. A 3.
TREK SENSE: Nothing to do with serpents and everything to do with the featured quotation. The condition is quite abstract, and requires bigger Away Teams/crews (depending on the affiliation), which isn't necessarily a Trek thing. However, if you have a big group, then yes, you can totally spare personnel to cover two missions. On the show, they had to go help a colony after a natural disaster, but Q forced them to do (and I'm inventing a mission here) Accept Q's Gift. This is muddled by the fact that the Q-Flash is ALREADY the Q encounter, and you have to switch missions AFTER (not instead of) his shenanigans. Hum. A 3.5.
STOCKABILITY: To stock or not to stock in the side-deck... well, it's too easily overcome, so there's a risk to doing so, but the effect is pretty good if it works. It will mostly hose Federation decks stocked with personnel that have high attribute values, perhaps boosted by Equipment cards. And of course strategies where players send redshirts to die on dilemmas, or in this case, reduce the number of Q-cards faced. I see why it exists, and if it hits late in the game, you might even give yourself time suddenly cross the finish line before your opponent. Q = 3.5.
TOTAL: 14.5 (72.5%) One of the better Q-cards overall, especially in its more intangible qualities (those other than game play).
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