Wesley's STCCG card of the day #211

Hi, folks,

after the second weekend of the month has taken its usual toll (yeah, that monthly club meeting had to be organised), I am back for more. More nasty cards that is. Like

THE CHARYBDIS

Event, uncommon AU.
Plays on table. Artifacts at completed missions cannot be acquired until Archaeology present. (If Charybdis destroyed, anyone present may acquire artifact).
"This wreckage was quickly dated to 2033-2079 due to its 52-star American flag, an example of the importance of such knowledge when dealing with ancient artifacts."

One of the cards that do not seem to favor a certain affiliation at first glance, but then does through the back door.

Feds have some Archaeology in the rares, Picard, Jack Crusher and Richard Galen are the decent ones here. No mention of this skill whatsoever in the uncommons or commons.

Klingons have three uncommons and a common with Archaeology of which Koroth and Nu'Daq are good enough to see some play.

Romulans have this skill in two commons, one of which is a Security guy and the other is Galathon (not so great), but they both somewhat suck. Only the Security, Taul, will probably get played as Romulans have no uncommon or rare Security and there are no universal non-aligned Security guys so they might have a lack of Security.

Three more Archaeology come from Non-aligned, Ocett (okay but not great), Baran (Exobiology and Computer Skill - also okay) and Berlingoff Rasmussen (not worth it, the special ability sux...)

So it seems that Romulans lose a lot from this, Federation only gets hurt if the deck is not equipped with lots of Bridge crew (though a cheapo Federation deck will suck against this card) and Klingons have some decent choices to avoid this card (though the player will have to consciously include Archaeology to make sure he'll get the skill in.) But on the other hand, Romulans have the best chance to have Archaeology "by accident" with their Taul.

Now on to the effect. Stopping a player from acquiring artifacts is more than nasty. Especially as you can move in your own Archaeologist or use Uxbrige in the right moment to steal the fruits of your opponent's hard work. And as Archaeology is not that common in any affiliation, this has a fair chance of striking home. But be careful! This one could hurt you as well, as it is a global effect. So timing is once again an important issue with this card. Use it if you have Archaeology (and a decent chance to keep it through all the Dilemmas) or after acquiring your key artifact or maybe at the very beginning if you play a slower deck. And always be prepared to nix it yourself if the situation comes up that you have some crew in the right places and your opponent has uncovered an artifact but cannot take it. Beam down a crewman, play Uxbridge and run away with the loot (you must do this on your turn as otherwise your opponent gets to use personnel cards first).

Good against any artifact-heavy deck, great if you don't play artifacts at all. And gives a new twist to timing.

Favorite combo(s):

- Charybdis + several Firestorms seeded under opponent's missions: Very many crew with Archaeology have Integrity <5.

Ratings for : THE CHARYBDIS

Wesley's rating:                7.5
Cole's rating:                  7.0
Conner's rating:                ---
Heather's rating:               7.5
Jack's rating:                  7.8
John's rating:                  6.0
Q's rating:                     7.5
Ray's rating:                   ---
Tony's rating:                  9.0
----------------------
AVERAGE RATING:                 7.5

PS: (I don't like saying this but it is justified by current events) I love STCCG. And I like helping people if I have time. And I also do like engaging in some strategy discussion, especially as this often tells me things I overlooked (I might be good but I'm not omniscient :-) ). But I will no longer bother replying to mails filled with several insults or estimates of my brain size that would have a pea seem big. I am also not responsible if people do not know how to unsubscribe stccg-discussion or if they can't cancel a forward they once set. And requests for reviews (while always welcome) can be phrased differently than "Do thhe BEverly Cruher crad." (Typoes about original). First this proves no good manners, second taking so little time that 5 words contain 4 typoes does not promise much interest and third, before you make requests, please look up in the webpage, the card might already have been done. (I really hate replying "Check #whatever, it's already there".)
Note that this does not target the majority of you whose comments I do really enjoy but just the few who do think they either own COTD (be told: you don't) or believe their mail gets better attention if every other word is an insult (be told: it doesn't).

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

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

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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"