Wesley's STCCG card of the day #292

Hi, folks,

the 10th and last of the big stars has taken her time to enter STCCG, and we still only got a secondary version of her in QC:

MADAM GUINAN

Personnel, non-aligned, rare QC.
Integrity 8
Cunning 9
Strength 6
CIVILIAN, Once per turn may nullify any AU icon interrupt, event or dilemma where present, Anthropology, Staff Star (+), AU icon.
"Adventurous El-Aurian who spent time exploring worlds such as Earth. Met a time-traveling crew from the U.S.S. Enterprise in the 19th century."
Well, apart from the fact that this card should have been AU (it's the big expansion hoser), it's really good. For those who don't understand its power but play Magic, I'll quickly create the equivalent Magic card: Guinan, Summon Legend. Tap: Counter target Ice Age Interrupt, Instant or Enchantment spell. Powerful? Sure. Why? Because it gives you a card advantage.

After all, the game balance is simple. You have 60 cards, your opponent has 60 cards. You draw a card per turn and so does he. And any card that takes out more cards from him than from you gives you an advantage (Star Wars takes this to an extreme by actually making the cards your life, but it's as true in our game).

Of course a nullifier card is only as good as the cards it nullifies. So let's have a look:

Vorgon Raiders, Dead in Bed, Temporal Narcosis, Wolf, Devidian Foragers:
Limited at best, and not very common in play. Not primary targets.
Brain Drain:
The cute temporary killer. Almost as good as taking out that personnel by a Dilemma only more surgical and more reliable. Almost needed a counter-card.
Wartime conditions and Rishon Uxbridge:
Really? Maybe a quick target for turns in which you don't get hit by anything sensible.
Thought Fire, Frame of Mind, Quantum Singularity Lifeforms, Parallel Romance:
Underrated nasties that you'd probably rather avoid than face.
Maman Picard, Interphasic Plasma Creatures, Empathic Echo:
Not worth their money.
Royale Casino games:
Unkillable 7 or 10 point differential you'd probably not want to waste a card on but if you can take it out on the fly...
Conundrum:
Dangerous against the typical transport ship with little crew and annoying.
Drought Tree:
Easily nullified, but the Guinan way is even easier.
Doppelganger:
That's a hard one - who has more to gain from it?
Android Nightmares:
another nasty one with all these great androids now floating around.

You see: Good targets. And at two hits for each of your turns (you can use her on your opponent's turn, too!) Guinan will almost definitely give you a card advantage. Unless your opponent is mean enough to play without AU - but that's the risk you take.

Oh, BTW: She cannot do Investigate Time Continuum (no colon rule match and no match under the new "Persona" rule either).

Favorite combo(s):
Ratings for : MADAM GUINAN 

Wesley's rating:                7.5
Allen's rating:                 7.5
Cole's rating:                  7.5
Data's rating:                  7.8
Drew's rating:                  7.8
Hal's rating:                   7.8
Jack's rating:                  6.8
Mot's rating:                   9.0
Nanite's rating:                7.0
Nouwa's rating:                 9.0
Picarde's rating:               8.5
Q's rating:                     8.0
Ranger's rating:                8.5
Rothspar's rating:              9.95
Tania's rating:                 7.0
Tony's rating:                  8.8
----------------------          
AVERAGE RATING:                 8.0
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LLAP,

Wesley Crusher, the new STCCG Lord

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