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. Bynars can do a lot of jobs, like...
PICTURE: The drugged-up eyes, strange contusions under the Bynars' ears and their intimate pose are, I think, a little disturbing to many players. At least, that's what I heard when the card was first introduced. And indeed, while the image is pulled from the correct episode, I don't think it really captures the title concept very well - it should be about Bynar ability, but shows them in what looks like difficulty. 1.5 here.
LORE: A nice retelling of the Bynar mission from "11001001" (can't believe I've got that episode title committed to memory), it adequately describes the action. Nothing spectacular, it deserves its 3.1.
TREK SENSE: Uhh... let's call this one conceptual, shall we? Remember the episode? The Bynars download their world's memory core into the Enterprise to avoid the supernova's electromagnetic pulse, then reboot their homeworld by transferring the data back to the core. Here, data is undoubtedly equated to cards, which is imprecise, but fair enough. After all, cards are the "data" we use to build ships, call personnel, perform actions that translate as events, objectives, et al. But what happens regarding this data isn't what happened in the episode, nor can it adequately be strictly described as a "Transfer". Sure, cards are transferred to your eyes (not to say your hand) where they may be placed in a certain order, then retransferred, if you will, to the top of the draw deck (where they used to be, new order not withstanding) or the bottom (a truer transfer). None of these transfers are anything like the one in "11001001" though. A poor showing only worth 0.3.
STOCKABILITY: Deck manipulation can be a little complex, but if you're good at it, it can be very useful. So while Data Transfer is an event and slow to play, it nonetheless allows you to reorganize your near future, first of all, seeing what you're gonna get, then re-ordering those cards, and possibly placing some of them at the bottom of the draw deck for much later use (or no use at all, depending on your opponent's strategy). That's great, though it can be derailed by your very next special download (reshuffles deck), so be sure to draw the card you wanted right away. At the very least, Data Transfer will decide that turn's card draw(s) from a choice of 5. It can be used to also fix your card probes (for several turns if you never shuffle), so the Borg could be quite interested (though they are big downloaders). One thing the Borg can't do with it, that other affiliations can, is suspending play to download it with 10 and 01 (Computer Skill x2 + Quark's Rods will get them out early). Yes, the duo can use it even during your opponent's turn, or to fix My First Raygun's probe. Similarly, only non-Borg can use Minuet to allow the card to play for free. But among the slew of new manipulation cards, is it better than the others? Well, it's very close to one of Handshake's functions, except for sending cards to the bottom of the draw deck, and a lot less flexible. Being a "Bynars" card does help and the card recycles itself, so it's got pep of its own (even if the picture characters don't seem to have any). The card gets 3.6 from me, though it really hits its stride in combination with other cards from its source episode.
TOTAL: 8.5 (42.5%) Mechanical cards like this are so artificial...
Comments