Dear STCCG fans,
It's me again, Habib. Depending on how long you've played STCCG or read COTD you may or may not remember me. For the uninformed, I and I alone created COTD. This may come as a shock to you newbies who only know Wesley. But the real vets should still remember the days when Habib reigned as the self proclaimed STCCG Lord. Well anyways, I'll get to the point. A few days ago I had an urge to return to the STCCG world and check up on how things were doing. To my surprise and delight, everything was still going strong, including Wesley and COTD. My personal congrats to Wesley for the fine job he's doing. Anyway, I was browsing the website and noticed a section about the history of COTD. While everything was correct, it lacked anything about the creation of COTD, for obvious reasons of course. So I took it upon myself to tell you my COTD history and how it was born. So without further delay, here is the story. I hope I don't leave out anything, or anyone.
It was march of '95, I had recently turned 15 (I'm just a kid :-) ) and had recieved another (my 3rd) box of STCCG. I immediately opened all 36 packs and created my brand new deck. It was full of odd strategies and card combinations. Of course, the next time my playing group and I got together I smeared them. My deck was so powerful that I went at least 20-0 that night. When I got home that evening, I realized that I had a certain knack for the game and its strategic elements. I had recently subscribed to an ISP (my first trip to the 'net) and thought maybe there would be a place to discuss STCCG. To my delight, the group rec.games.trading-cards.misc (this was before STCCG had its own group) had a fine discussion going on the game. Without hesitation I joined in with strategies of my own. People were impressed to say the least and I had recieved a reputation for being a good STCCG strategist. With my head now tripled in size, I decided to make the best of my talents and bring my wisdom to all.
The next day, I sent out an announcement to the group. It basically said in a week I would be starting COTD and requested feedback about the idea. I recieved several responses (3 I think) in favor of the idea. That was good enough for me. And on March 17, 1995 COTD was born. If you had paid any attention to my announcement, it said I would pick a card at random. That night I laid a card list on the floor and dropped a pencil and wherever the mark was, that would be the card. It was some common mission so I decided to pick the card myself. The logical first choice was Picard. I wrote a short blurb about him, explaining several uses for him and that was it. I remember thinking it was long at the time, but compared to Wesley's novels these days, it was really nothing. I didn't recieve any feedback about that one, but I didn't care. I wrote COTD more for personal satisfaction than anything else. The next day I reviewed the Borg Ship (still my favorite card) and introduced the rating. I gave the ship a 10, which is really not possible because that would mean it was a perfect card and it isn't. The idea of rating cards was a huge success, and it still is today. That night I got my first reader feedback, and it was positive. It was a good feeling knowing that people were actually reading.
COTD continued normally until a simple request became a milestone in COTD history. One reader by the name of Jack Dracula requested to give his 2 cents in each COTD. This was fine by me, and I sent him a list of cards that I would be reviewing soon. He gave a short message about each card that I incorporated into each COTD, but more importantly he gave his own rating. Who would've thought that anyone would care. But they did, and that was good. Soon enough, more and more readers requested to be raters too. By issue 12, I had five raters in addition to myself. One of these, who was an unknown at the time, went by the name of Wesley Crusher. Back then, he was only a name with a number after it. Who would've thought that he would ever be the man in charge of a powerful COTD empire. But anways, I got more and more feedback about COTD, mostly positive but a few flames, and COTD was flourishing.
Issue 11 was a big step forward. This brought the introduction of the first ever COTD webpage. Hosted by Dani Roloson, this was an easy way for readers to check out back issues and not have to email me for them. Special thanks to Dani for his fine contribution to COTD history.
What followed was the beginning of the end of "classic" COTD. I began to write issues on a more irregular basis. Sometimes every other day, then five days off. What started as daily became three times a week or so. The main reason was lack of time on my part. I went to school all day, did homework (yeah right) during the night, and was involved in various other activities. What started as a hobby turned into a responsibility, and I simply didn't have the time for it. I did my best to write as often as I could, but it was no use. COTD was going downhill, and after 25 issues I resigned. Wesley was quick to ask for the job. I saw no reason to say no and he took over. After a short break, COTD was back with Wesley at the helm. I remained in the COTD world, but not in the spotlight this time. I was only a name with a number after it, a rater. After a while I left that job too. STCCG was dead where I lived. My playing group had abandoned the game, and that left me with no place to go.
The next summer I took on a new task. I called it Deck of the Week, but after only one issue, I foresaw its failure and abandoned that too. The truth is, I really didn't enjoy writing DOTW. It was simply an attempt to get back in the spotlight. The truth is, with Wesley in charge now, I felt a little insignificant. However, nothing I could do would get me the attention that Wesley now had. And that was it. I packed up my cards and left. I basically vanished entirely from the STCCG world.
Finally AU came out. I purchased six or so packs and looked though the cards. I thought they were pretty cool, but when I showed them to my friends, they thought nothing of it. As far as they were concerned, they would never play STCCG again. Once again I was left alone. I made a few posts to the STCCG mailing list around the time of AU's arrival, but I was behind the times. I knew nothing of the new strategies and concepts introduced by the new cards. I unsubscribed from the list.
With STCCG officially dead in my area, SWCCG came out, and being a huge SW fan I bought some. My friends were also big SW fans too, and we all started playing. Even though SWCCG is a good game and certainly has its advantages over STCCG, it just didn't bring me the excitement of STCCG. Perhaps it was the X-Y*(Z+Y-X)+(Z-Y) common to many of its cards. To me, it just wasn't fun. So I stopped buying cards, which resulted in quite a few loses to my friends (they each had bought a box or two). So I basically quit that game too. That night I when I got home, I took out my old STCCG cards and thought about the past. As far as I was concerned, nothing could beat STCCG.
Which of course brings us to the present. COTD is still going, great I might add, and STCCG is still going strong. Unfortunately, I haven't played STCCG in over a year. So I'm quite a bit behind on things. However, some of my friends and I are thinking about dusting off the old cards and playing some more. I certainly hope so. Perhaps once again Habib will be the STCCG Lord.
And that's about it, COTD history as I saw it, plus a little bit about me. I hope it was informative, and maybe even entertaining, but I probably shouldn't push it. Now in addition to that, I thought I'd add some interesting tidbits about COTD that many of you don't know or maybe just don't remember.
That's all I can think of right now. I may add more later.
Thank you all for reading this. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. I would appreciate feedback on it. My address, which is not anywhere on the website (but should be), is now habib@sprynet.com. Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions regarding COTD or just about anything for that matter.
Live long and prosper,
Habib The STCCG Lord (retired)
habib@sprynet.com