Wesley's STCCG card of the day #260

Hi, folks,

before I present the winner of the Internet expansion II, here's the close calls, i.e. the ones that just didn't make it in...

10th: Saucer Separation       (Cpt. Stasis)
9th:  Emergency Course Change (John Teti)
8th:  Starship Hijacking      (Data)
7th:  Disabled Gambit         (Tony)
6th:  Q-Bubble                (Ray)

And the big one? Well, the author of it is an old COTD contributor / rater. To be exact, the oldest one. With us since #6, now on #1: Jack Dracula with...

(DRUMROLL)

.. a card that scored 49 points ...

(even louder Drumroll)

PENALTY BOX

Dilemma, planet/space, uncommon Internet Expansion II.
Randomly choose a unique crew member. That crew member is taken out of the misson attempt, and set aside. If the misson attempt fails, that crew member is removed from the game.
"Q often thought that he would get the best from people by raising the stakes."

So simple. A hoser for expensive decks and one that gets you into nice strategy problems when seeding it. Used correctly, this Dilemma is better than an Armus, used wrongly it's significantly weaker. The similarity is that you get to remove one crewmember at random from the current mission attempt.

Now for the differences: - Penalty Box is guaranteed to hit a unique. So your probabilities are slightly better for getting a good crewmember.
- There is no Genetronic Replicator that could be used to save the person just sent into the penalty box.
- If you really get the person, Res-Q won't help. Understandably, why would Q bring back the one he just punished?
- You can use it in space, which is a big advantage.
- But, on the other hand, you might have to hand back the crewmember unharmed, if your opponent still manages to do the mission.
- And of course it can be nixed by Q2.

So, to make really good use of this Dilemma, it's obvious you'll have to combine it with something else. If you have the resources and want to be mean, use it in the combination Penalty Box - any Love Interest - Q (on planets) or Box - Tarellian Plague ship - Q (in space). The aim of the middle Dilemma is to send away another person so the probability of nailing the team with Q is greatly enhanced. Multiplied by six missions, your opponent will wonder where all his crew disappeared, and, with only the middle Dilemma affected by the Planet/Space choices of your opponent you might put 4 of each in your deck, thus making sure you correctly seed at least 4 missions and still have 3 artifact/doorway slots left in your deck.

For less expensive combos, try it with Worshiper or (in space) Radioactive Garbage Scow! The latter one is a 100% killer combo and the former is nearly as safe for planet missions.

But just for story fun, I still prefer the Penalty Box - Q combo (without any intervening nasties). First one member of the crew gets thrown into the box and then Q's judgement over the rest of the crew decides the fate of the ill-mannered crewmember that dared to taunt our omnipotent friend in the first place.

And for the rest - well, rarity of the card is adequate, it reflects the show and Q's "penalty box" concept - even to the point that there can only be one in it at a time, as the first personnel is killed before you can hit another Penalty Box under a different mission. Decipher guys, this is a worthy one!

Favorite combo(s):

- Penalty Box + Q. What else?

Ratings for : PENALTY BOX

Wesley's rating:                8.5
Cole's rating:                  7.5
Data's rating:                  7.2
Gowron's rating:                8.8
Hal's rating:                   9.9
Nouwa's rating:                 7.0
Q's rating:                     6.9 (you have your own?)
Ranger's rating:                8.5
Tania's rating:                 8.0
Tony's rating:                  8.5
Ray's rating:                   6.5
Nanite's rating:		6.1
Wa'QaH's rating:		9.9 
----------------------          
AVERAGE RATING:                 8.0

PS: I misattributed a card in the Expansion earlier on. "Draw, Sheriff" is not by Tony, it was Tom (not Braunlich, natch!).

Please direct all email concerning card of the day to: crusher@kiss.de

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With all back issues from #1 up to today !

LLAP,

Wesley Crusher, the new STCCG Lord

"A couple of lightyears can't keep good friends apart"