Wesley's STCCG card of the day #309

Hi, folks,

here's a card whose title we had before... And actually, the game effect was not that much different, only it was no Q-Event (not surprising, at the time of Internet Expansion II QC was not much more than a rumor). Anyway, here's the official version of

PENALTY BOX

Q-Event, uncommon.
If any Penalty Box already in play, put its occupant out-of-play and replace with new victim (random selection). Discard Event. Otherwise, place on table and put one personnel present (random selection) here. (If nullified, return occupant to owner's hand).
"Unfortunately there's only one penalty box. If any of you should be sent there, dear Tasha must give the box up to you... and go into nothingness."

A neato card. Overpowered Armus to be exact. In terms of removing one personnel from play, this Q-Event has exactly the same power as the black soul. Only that it also works in space, does not take up a seed card and Genetronic Replicators and similar stuff are ineffective. Getting the personnel back is of course possible, but it usually costs a valuable Kevin (instead of the Res-Q) and you'll be in no better position than the one gained from Res-Q: You have the crewmember in your hand and have to replay it.

But no power comes without a price and this price is the risk you take when playing this card against an opponent who himself uses the Penalty Box, because in that case, you'll look at losing your last chance to rescue one of your crew cards should he attempt a mission. And here's where the real fun starts. While your opponent desperately waits for a Kevin to regain his Data from the Penalty Box, you assemble a quick and dirty away team in the hopes of triggering a Penalty Box yourself and moving his Data into the void. In the rare case a good personnel of yours has to be put on the stake for this venture, just have your own Kevin or Q-Flash ready to relieve that poor guy from his fate you just sent him into.

Probably the best Q-card in the entire set as it rivals (and in some ways exceeds) the powers of an often-used rare Dilemma. Definitely worth to have in multiples, even though this means you might have to discard one now and then because of a duplicate under one mission.

Favorite combo(s):

Penalty Box(es) + Armus + Yuta + MLI + FLI + Parallel Romance + Thine Own Self (throw in Alien Abduction or just a plain old killer like Barclay's Disease if you want to be able to nuke Away Teams of more than 8)

Ratings for : PENALTY BOX

Wesley's rating:                9.25
Cole's rating:                  8.0
Drew's rating:                  8.6
Gowron's rating:                7.5
Hal's rating:                   8.1
Jack's rating:                  6.5
Mot's rating:                   8.5
Nanite's rating:                7.0
Nog's rating:                   8.0
Nouwa's rating:                 9.0
Picarde's rating:               6.5
Q's rating:                     9.0
Ranger's rating:                6.5
Rothspar's rating:              6.0
Tebok's rating:                 9.5
Tony's rating:                  9.5
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AVERAGE RATING:                 8.0

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

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LLAP,

Wesley Crusher
Primary member of the STCCG Players' committee

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