Wesley's STCCG card of the day #232

Hi, folks,

now that we've cleared up the issue of what should be contained in future COTD's let's get right back into it (with some new motivation due to that 40+ reply turnout in one day):

LORE'S FINGERNAIL

Event, rare
Plays on table. While in play, all Soong-type androids (including Lt. Cmdr. Data) and Exocomps lose their affiliation and are non-aligned personnel.
"Circuitry in Lore's finger was used to control and manipulate Lt. Commander Data with emotions."

Now this is a card with future potential. While, currently, only two cards are affected by it, there are some more to come. Lal, Lore and Data's Mother are three that I can imagine right from the top of my head, and all the Holo-incarnations of Mr. Data will make a good extra number of Soong-type guys to choose from.

But then, what's the effect? Most players just think of this card as a convenient way to get Data and his brethren into a Romulan or Klingon deck. Or maybe, the possible Data as Romulan card into a Fed deck. In this case, they are just that much better off with a treaty. It allows not only the use of the android, but also of other personnel, and a real benefit from the second outpost can also be gained. Thus, there is nothing to be gained here. Especially as the Fingernail can be dispelled with Uxbridge and a Treaty requires the Devil. But then, where is the benefit? There are no cards that require a non-aligned personnel to work. But one that disables any affiliated crew: Qualor II Rendezvous. Wouldn't it be nice to have Data's Dilemma-busting capability present there? Too bad we do not have a few more non-aligned missions...

So let's finally try a different approach. If gaining the non-aligned attribute does not help too much, maybe losing the Fed attribute does. If you can suddenly put a decent leader on a non-aligned ship and fire or send an away team of Data(12), Roga Danar(12) and an Echo Papa Drone(10) to wipe out opposing crews, your opponent is going to be really surprised.

And the surprise is entirely yours! Play the Fingernail, beam down, attack. Your opponent won't even know what hit her.

Good card? Not really. Fun card? Yes! Just remember to use it when it is to be expected least.

Oh, BTW, this also affects your opponent's androids, but I see no benefit in this feature as being non-aligned is usually advantageous compared to Fed. Although removing the only Fed from an away team can prove troublesome when doing missions, but then, it's no interrupt, so no surprise value here.

Favorite combo(s):

- The sneak attack mentioned above.

Ratings for : LORE'S FINGERNAIL

Wesley's rating:                3.5
Cole's rating:                  6.0
Data's rating:                  7.0
Jack's rating:                  6.8
John's rating:                  2.0
Q's rating:                     4.5
Ray's rating:                   6.5
Richard's rating:               7.5
Tony's rating:                  5.0
Tania's rating:                 5.5
Hal's rating:                   2.0
----------------------          
AVERAGE RATING:                 5.1

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LLAP,

Wesley Crusher, the new STCCG Lord

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