| |
DECIPHER.com > Star Trek >
Tenth Anniversary
 Favorites
of The Tal Shiar: Major Rakal's Top 20
As I set up the voting for STCCG card favorites, I was torn between a desire
to allow as many votes as possible (because I knew it was going to be so
hard to narrow down my choices) and the sure knowledge that the more cards
each person got to vote for, the bigger the headache I was going to get
trying to collate those votes. I got Evan Lorentz's opinion on how many
to allow for; he agreed with me that 10 was far too few, but thought 20
or 25 would give an adequate sampling. I wavered for days between 20 and
25, mindful that my own rough list was nearly 70. The headache potential
eventually won out, so my list had to be pared to 20. What were those 20?
Why did they make my list? Here goes... and no, they're not all green.
;-)
Major Rakal (Alternate Universe) – Does this one require any
explanation? The Major has been my online persona for so long – around
8 years now! – that leaving her off my list was unthinkable. My only
regret was that there wasn't a Second Edition "Deanna Troi, Major Rakal"
to take the second spot. So I gave it instead to...
Dr. Telek R'Mor (Voyager) – I was adamant that the voting had
to be for the card itself and not the border color, foil status, or anything
else, so I have to classify this with the Voyager set where it finally released
in "normal" form. But in reality, it's the white border First
Anthology preview R'Mor that I always picture when I think of this card,
because that's where Dr. Telek R'Mor made his impact on the game and on
the Romulans. By far the best Romulan in the game at that time, he enabled
the famous "Loca/R'Mor" deck and its close cousin, the Rakal/R'Mor
deck, which took more than one player (including me) to the 1997 World Championships.
Small wonder that he has a place in my Star Trek CCG heart of hearts
almost as high as the Major.
Investigate "Shattered Space" (Premiere) – What would
the Rakal/R'Mor deck have been without space missions to solve? This all-Romulan
staple of that deck also had an image that foiled very nicely in Reflections.
Galen (Q-Continuum) – Jean-Luc Picard was always my favorite
sexy bald captain... er, Next Gen bridge crew character, so one of his personas
had to be on my list. The First Contact JLP was a strong contender (I like
the image much more than the Premiere version), but in the end it was roguish
Galen who won the day. Great image of Patrick Stewart, and being Non-aligned
with Treachery, Archaeology, and more... well, he was basically a "Romulan"
Picard long before Enhanced Premiere gave us a green "Data and Picard".
Captain Spock (The Motion Pictures) – Going back to classic
Trek – and I do go back that far, having devoured the first
two seasons' original broadcasts throughout my junior and senior
years of high school – my hands-down favorite character was Spock.
Maybe my affinity for the Vulcan Spock was a harbinger of my later affection
for his Romulan cousins. Maybe it was his cool intellect and dry commentary.
Maybe it was just the pointed ears and the raised eyebrow. Regardless, one
of my 20 votes had to be a Spock; the only question was, which one? It was
a close call between Captain Spock and First Officer Spock (Mirror, Mirror),
but I finally opted for the motion picture version. Fascinating...
Data (Premiere) – Neither bald nor a captain, but my second
favorite Next Gen bridge crew member, Data, was like another Spock (without
the pointy ears). His Premiere persona – pre-emotion chip, post-early
season quirkiness – came out on top. (See, I told you my picks weren't
all green!)
 D'deridex
Advanced (The Dominion) – Can't have a Tal Shiar agent's favorite
card list without a warbird! I was tempted by the image on the Premiere
Devoras, but the Tal Shiar connection of the Advanced combined with a pretty
darned nice image as well gave it the nod. My decks never had a problem
getting a Tal Shiar aboard, as they normally included every personnel with
the skill. Getting the ship into play was another matter, given my
affliction with the dreaded Rakal Shuffle – but there are a few cards
that helped, like this one...
Remodulation (First Contact) – Ever suffered from "Rakal
Shuffle"? Named after yours truly for the frequency with which it affected
my game, this disorder guarantees that no matter how well or how often you
shuffle your deck, the card you need to draw the most will end up on the
bottom. Small wonder that an interrupt that would let me draw some cards
off the bottom of my deck would be a favorite (and it didn't hurt that it
pictures my favorite sexy bald captain). But it wasn't a panacea, since
first I had to draw a Remodulation. What to do? Well, there are other ways
to get the cards you need when you need them...
Q's Tent (Q-Continuum) – A huge breakthrough for Rakal Shufflers,
Q's Tent was downloading before downloading existed. If the Q-Continuum
expansion had consisted solely of this card, it would still have revolutionized
the game. With Dr. Telek R'Mor so essential to the success of a Rakal/R'Mor
or Loca/R'Mor deck, a backup copy in the Tent was great insurance; so was
a ship... and a spare Tal Shiar... and soon, so many cards that we were
all hard put to select the essential 13. I can't remember ever running a
constructed deck sans Tent after Q-Continuum, so this has to qualify
as a favorite card for me. But for really hard-core cases of the Rakal Shuffle
(like the ones that consistently shuffle all ships to the bottom of the
deck), you can't beat real downloading, for example...
Spacedoor (OTSD) – You seed it, so you never have to worry
about having it in play, and you get to download the ship, making its position
in your deck irrelevant. Sure, it only gets you universal ships... but remember
that D'deridex Advanced? Right. Of course, ships aren't the only cards that
fell victim to The Shuffle; sometimes I couldn't draw a personnel for love
nor money, making a case for other downloads...
Assign Mission Specialists (First Contact) – While not overtly
"green," Assign Mission Specialists was made to order for the
Romulans. As the affiliation with the fewest and generally least-skilled
personnel, the Rommies naturally were "blessed' with a plethora of
single-skilled cannon fodder... aka mission specialists! And most of their
specialties actually happened to be useful for solving missions for the
5-point bonuses (unlike the Federation "Youth" specialists who
didn't have much outlet for their talents). Best of all, they even had not
one, but two Treachery specialists (Selok and Parem) to beef up the
point value of a host of Romulan missions. And downloadable to boot, thereby
(like Spacedoor) bypassing the Rakal Shuffle. Thank you, Evan!
Continuing Committee (Rules of Acquisition) – It was cool enough
to get one Romulan HQ (Office of the Proconsul) in The Dominion, but the
Continuing Committee was the icing on the cake. No one else had two headquarters
that could coexist on their homeworld, and the ability to report a Tal Shiar
for free each turn was a great boon to anyone who,. like me, loaded
their deck with the versatile intelligence agents and planned on staffing
a fleet of D'deridex Advanced warbirds (downloaded at a neighboring Spacedoor)
with them. And once I had those Tal Shiars in play, they had their uses...
 Plans
of the Tal Shiar (Deep Space Nine) – The Tal Shiar emblem alone
would have put this card on my list (even better in foil). The gameplay
elements for making use of my Tal Shiar personnel just clinched it.
Inside Operation (Blaze of Glory) – I don't believe I ever
used this card in a game – or even stocked it in a deck. I just love
the image of the backlit Romulan tactical display, and it made a superb
foil in that very first foil subset.
Investigate Rumors (Deep Space Nine) – This one was another
pure image pick. I loved it in its original incarnation, I adored it as
a Reflections foil. The Chamra Vortex gets my vote any day for most stunning
card image.
Scout Encounter (First Contact) – Given my history in the field
of dilemma resolution, my list wouldn't be complete without a dilemma or
two. Scout Encounter was one of the handful of covert Romulan goodies in
an overtly Romulan-free expansion. While obviously designed primarily for
the new Borg affiliation's scout ships, those sneaky Romulans had also been
equipped with scout vessels since Premiere, and they hastened to make good
use of them with this dilemma. Even if they weren't prepared to pick a fight
with that overmatched little scout, or even to follow up with a Quantum
Singularity Lifeforms, three free downloads were not to be sneezed at. Besides,
the image of the Romulan and Borg scout ships nose to nose was just cool.
Lack of Preparation (First Contact) – The other dilemma that
made my list also happened to be a First Contact offering. No Romulan connection
here, this was a favorite for purely gameplay reasons. Redshirt that mission?
I don't think so, and it'll cost you 10 points even to try.
Q-Flash (Q-Continuum) – "I'm not a dilemma, but I play
one on TV..." Well, I seed like one, anyway, and for one seed slot
I can make you face a bunch of dilemma-like cards. (That is, if you don't
redshirt. But that's what Lack of Prep is for.) The Romulan in me was always
partial to loading my Q-Flash deck with Mandarin Bailiffs and His Honor
the High Sheriffs, in hopes of nabbing some captives to Interrogate, or
at least some points. It just got better with Beware of Q, which almost
made my list – but Beware of Q wouldn't exist without the Q-Flash to
start with, so I decided to put the Flash on the list instead.
Rituals of the Hunt (The Borg) – What?!? A Hirogen card, of
all things, on Major Rakal's list! Where did that come from? As out
of place as it may seem, the key to its inclusion here is that I was part
of the design team for The Borg expansion set – and Rituals of the
Hunt is one of the cards for which I was heaviliy involved in the design.
There were others – notably the dilemmas – but my design involvement
coupled with the striking image of Rituals led me to pick this one for my
favorites.
Thenelak (The Borg) – Last but not least is this, the lone
Romulan from The Borg expansion. Why on Romulus would this unassuming, albeit
green, personnel be a favorite of mine? She's a universal mission specialist,
but Physics isn't exactly in the highest demand for mission-solving. Nothing
outstanding in terms of gameplay value, and the image is OK but hardly spectacular.
Despite its Romulan connection, the episode didn't particularly appeal to
me (I preferred Eye of the Needle). I didn't even help design Thenelak –
unless you count her name. Like so many "background" Romulans,
this one was nameless in the script so we had to manufacture a Romulan-sounding
name for her, which I did. Designer Evan Lorentz thought it sounded splendidly
Romulan, and wrote the lore specially to go with it. Have you figured out
my improbable affinity for this card yet? Hint: the first name you know
me by is just a nickname...
Well, there they are, my 20 favorite cards, or at least 20 of my
favorites. There were so many others I considered, like Cardassian Trap,
Cryosatellite, and Reflection Therapy for gameplay reasons; Morn, Barfly
(Second Edition) for his lore; Reinitialize Warp Reaction (Voyager) for
its image; Vekor and Roga Danar for their sheer all-around usefulness in
the early STCCG environment; Armus – Skin of Evil, because it was the
first rare I ever pulled; Dukat (DS9), because he's my favorite DS9 character;
several dilemmas from The Borg, because I designed them; Tomek and Mot the
Barber and Sirna Kolrami and Q, because they're the online personas of some
of my earliest Star Trek CCG friends; Romulan Shuttle and Cha'Joh
and Tomalak and Taris and Toreth and Senator Vreenak and Tallera, because
they're Romulan; and many, many more.
I knew a lot of my picks would never make the final Top 100, and indeed
for some of them, like Thenelak and Inside Operation, my vote was the only
one. But a card doesn't have to appear on the poster for it to have a permanent
place in my heart.
Jolan tru,
Kathy (Major Rakal) McCracken
Star Trek CCG Intelligence Officer and Tal Shiar Agent
March 19, 2004
|
|
