Wesley's STCCG card of the day #246


Hi, folks,

this one is almost a spoiler card:

Classic COTD #4

THE TRAVELER: TRANSCENDENCE

Event, uncommon
Place besides any player's draw deck. That player must draw one extra card at the end of each turn. Also, while in play, nullifies Static Warp Bubble. (Not cumulative).
"Benevolent humanoid from Tau Alpha C who could transcend space and time with thought."
Yeah, one more Magic spoiler reprinted in ST:CCG and even improved upon. Not that there are few of them. Here's what I found:
The Traveler                    Library of Alexandria (+)
Anti-Time Anomaly               Armageddon (-)
Kivas Fajo                      Ancestral Recall
Goddess of Empathy              In the Eye of Chaos (+)
Red Alert!                      Fastbond
Thought Maker                   Jester's Mask
Distortion of S/T Continuum     Time Walk (-)
Horga'hn                        Time Vault + several Twiddles (almost)
Palor Toff                      Regrowth (-)
Betazoid Gift Box               Demonic Tutor (+)
(list probably not complete)

Now the Magicians among you will notice that almost all of these cards are out of print. Seems Decipher had a faible for spoilers.

And just because the Traveler is such a staple, I'd rather not tell you what it can do (obvious), but a few things you should think about:

- You get a lot of extra cards. So you must find a way to play them, or they won't do you much good. As your regular card play is only one card each turn, you need card play enhancers. Interrupts are a good addition to a fast deck, as they play for free, but make sure their effect is worthwhile. Red Alert is a classic, but if you have too many Events, you will be in trouble. Six events in a 30-card draw deck is enough. With the Traveler and one Kivas Fajo you only get between 10 and 23 turns in a game, at about 15 average (11-13 if you also have a gift box.) With these figures, it's obvious that six events is the upper limit. And don't forget the Devidian door as a means of getting a card into play.

- Make sure your deck can reach 100 points in those 15 turns, especially if you intend to go to an official tourney where card exhaustion victories are only half points.
- You can play the Traveler on your opponent. This will not happen very often, but it is possible. And if you have a small lead, he's got 4 cards remaining and you have a Traveler and a Temporal Rift, do just that! Play the Traveler at the next opportunity and use the rift to make sure his key crew doesn't solve any missions.
- Same thing the other way round. I sometimes Uxbridge my own Traveler if I need an extra turn to get ahead or go beyond 100 points before exhausting my deck.
- The Traveler is a card that helps you only if you can keep it in play. Uxbridges sent against him are prime-time Q2 targets!
- If you are lucky enough to get both the Traveler and Red Alert in your opening hand, play the Traveler first. One-card advantage.
- He gets more effective if you keep your draw deck small (35 or less). If you have a larger draw deck, you might be better off with several Kivas Fajos. Drawing probability for Traveler is too low and having several of them is not an advantage (not cumulative).
- You might run into Thought Fire. Consider this fact when selecting crew members.
- And lastly the Static Warp bubble countering effect turns the one-card advantage into a two-card advantage. Awesome card.


Favorite combo(s):

- Traveler + Red Alert. A classic and a staple, but incredibly effective.


Ratings for : THE TRAVELER: TRANSCENDENCE

Wesley's rating:                9.5
Cole's rating:                  8.0
Conner's rating:                8.0
Data's rating:                  8.5
Q's rating:                     7.5
Ranger's rating:                9.0
Tania's rating:                 7.5
Tony's rating:                  9.0
Jack's rating:                  6.5
Nanite's rating:                8.0
Ray's rating:                   6.0
Nouwa's rating:                 9.0
Rothspar's rating:              7.0
----------------------
AVERAGE RATING:                 7.8

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LLAP,

Wesley Crusher, the new STCCG Lord

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