Wesley's STCCG card of the day #362

Hi, folks,

for today I'll present you a COTD without any GOTCHA or WHACK or HEE,HEE effect (well, I do that most of the time, but...) After the hit rate of my April 1 issue however , I'd better state explicitly that this is a real card:

GARAK

Personnel, Cardassian/Non-aligned, rare DS9 / First Anthology.
Integrity 7
Cunning 8
Strength 6
CIVILIAN, SECURITY, Computer Skill, Honor, Staff Star (+), AU Icon. May replace anyone randomly selected to die here.
"Cardassian Male. Virtual Player in the Vorta scenario testing the resolve of the Alpha Quadrant species. Risked his life in the defense of his comrades."
A real and cool preview of a new affiliation. The Cardassians, slated to debut in the DS9 set, make their first appearance here. Now the first question I've heard from everyone seeing this card is "Why, except for the fact that he's a preview does he have that Cardassian affiliation?". Well, it does some things. First he can solve Cardassian Missions while in Cardassian mode. This is more important than it may seem, smaller affiliations like the Cardies and Romulans need solid non-aligned support and it is not at all unusual to find 65% of the crew in such decks being non-aligned (And there's nothing more frustrating than having all skills required and being unable to attempt a mission because one lacks an affiliated character).

Second, and that's overlooked, this card neatly answers a request players have made quite often. Our good Garak allows players to play a purely non-aligned deck! Count him as Cardassian for your outposts (so you can seed one) and then play him as a non-aligned to fulfill the "requirement" that no affiliated crew may ever show up in your hand or in play. Oh, and don't forget that the Cardassian affiliation might give Plain Simple Garak a bonus from other cards...

For the rest... 7/8/6 is solid, on the same level as most bridge crew cards. The dual classification is at least interesting, CIVILIAN combined with whatever makes good cards for Colony decks and if that whatever is SECURITY, you have one of the better combinations. The skills, Computer Skill and Honor are not that great for a non-aligned but at least Honor should be quite rare in Cardassians (as will be CIVILIAN), so he should be part of the crew for some of the higher-scoring Cardie missions.

And his special ability? A built-in Security Sacrifice card(ie), thus giving you two cards for the price of one. And in a game where the recent developments in strategy have shown how important card advantage is, having a virtual 61st card in your deck (and drawing it at no cost) can be an extra boost for your victory chances.

BTW: Yuta is a random selection so Garak can also stand in as cannon fodder for this popular Dilemma, saving you the wait for Marouk if she's yet again at the bottom of your draw deck...

Hey Decipher, get those Anthologies out!

Favorite combo(s):
Ratings for : GARAK 

Wesley's rating:                9.0
Allen's rating:                 8.8

(I'm sure my raters have something to say about this as well, but I didn't want to delay this for the time a round of rating takes. Every rater is encouraged to directly post his rating and comments...)

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

Visit the Web Page!

http://www.worldonline.nl/~ldp/COTD.html
(for best indexing - all cards crosslinked)

With all back issues from #1 up to today !

LLAP,

Wesley Crusher
ISOWC'97 Event Manager

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