Wesley's STCCG card of the day #394


Hi, folks,

well, what should I say? The cards are out there... And not just cards but GREAT CARDS. So what better thing to do than take one of these babies and pick it apart a bit... And as we now know 13 Fajo cards, let's start with one that has a 13 on it.

LORE

Personnel, non-aligned, ultra-rare FJ.
Integrity 1
Cunning 13
Strength 12
CIVILIAN, ENGINEER, Computer Skill, Treachery x2, SECURITY, Transporter Skill, Leadership. Doubles all Rogue Borg and Crystalline Entities in play. Command Star (*), Nemesis Icon: Dr. Soong.
Does not work with [Fed] affiliation.
"Evil Soong-type Android. Data's 'elder brother'"
Okay, we all know six-skill cards get the hype and also somehow dual classification cards are not that bad. Here it gets even better. Not two but three classifications adorn Lore's game text and nicely enough, two of them are SECURITY and ENGINEER. We have seen that before, on Roga Danar, but Lore just packs a lot more punch. He shares the Computer Skill and Leadership with Roga (vital for Romulan R'Mor decks that need this combination for Investigate Shattered Space) and instead of the Biology you get two Treachery, Transporter Skill and the CIVILIAN. Now before anyone starts trying to build three-person Naiskos teams: No way. The only combo that would right now be viable would be Lore + Vekor + Major Rakal, but this would require Rakal to be in Fed mode and then she cannot work with Lore. (Well, to be exact, there is a three-person Naiskos team that does not even involve any Fajo cards, but this requires you to have a fourth personnel in play - guesses can be mailed to my address).

But wait... Did I say SIX skills? Hey, this would not be a Fajo card if we could not do better than the existing stuff. Let's say we take SEVEN skills and just for fun (Hey, we need that third line, so we can as well fill it) make it a special ability. Doubles Rogue Borg and Crystalline Entities in play. Well, in play, not on your side, but who's gonna play Rogue Borg just in the hope you use Lore? So the Rogue Borg deck again becomes a viable design. Have a non-nullifyable doubler out and you can always pack a Crosis on top of it. Two RB and one Crosis with Lore, a nice 36 Strength. Pack another Rogue Borg and you have 64 Strength! And the second half of the special ability? Double Crystalline Entity. Looks a bit weird as until now doubling a Dilemma always meant doubling the effect but killing everyone twice is not very sensible, so what is left are the requirements and points. Suddenly Cystalline Entity becomes a formidable card, requiring Music x2 or SHIELDS >12 in Space (that's Borg Ship level, folks) or SEC x2 + MED x2 on a Planet. Ouch ;-)

Oh, I forgot the new icon. The Nemesis icon will obviously allow a character to enter a kind of an epic battle with his nemesis, in our case Dr. Soong. (BTW, from an unnamed but reliable source I got a between-the-lines indication this icon might be a small disadvantage.) What the exact mechanic will be we can only guess, so expect a minor revision on this article someday, but even without it: Incredible card. And to think that was one of the least innovative Fajo designs...


Favorite combo(s):
Ratings for : LORE

Wesley's rating:                9.7
Cpt. Targ's rating:             8.5
Data's rating:                  9.0
Dr. R'Mor's rating:             9.6
EHCCGPP's rating:               8.5
Hal's rating:                   9.5
Locutus' rating:                9.3
Mot's rating:                   9.25
Picarde's rating:               9.9
Tony's rating:                 10.0
----------------------
AVERAGE RATING:                 9.3

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LLAP,

Wesley Crusher
Temporarily immortal STCCG Lord

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