Wesley's STCCG card of the day #269

Hi, folks,

about all that QC hype I almost forgot the classic stuff. So here's one, old, proved and powerful:

HORGA'HN

Artifact, rare
Immediately play on table. Artifact allows you to take double turns from now on (Not cumulative).
"Mysterious symbol of sexuality from the pleasure planet of Risa. To own one is to call forth its powers. To display one is to announce that the owner is seeking jamaharon."

There are good cards and there are great cards. And there's this card which caused an insane amount of hype when it was first released. After all, Magic discontinued its Timewalk and Star Trek introduces a card that is a permanent and reusable Timewalk? But somehow this card is less potent than Magic's and that is most simply caused by the fact that Star Trek does not know the concept of tapping, i.e. making resources usable only once per turn. An extra turn means an extra card play opportunity (duplicated in Red Alert), an extra move for each of your ships and away teams (Distortion of Space/Time Continuum) and an extra card (The Traveler: Transcendence). The strength of the Horga'hn is only the fact that it combines these three cards into one. But not that you get a turn against an opponent who is helpless because he exhausted all his resources during your first turn.

Still, the Horga'hn is one of the greatest speed cards in this game. Once you solved a mission, you can throw down cards at double rates and practically move at double speed, plus getting stopped is that much less of a threat when you get another turn. And in a game that is often decided by a single turn, two or three extra turns can prove the exact bonus you need to turn a loss into a win.

An additional bonus is that the Horga'hn counts as neither an event or interrupt. Which means the staple counterspells Kevin Uxbridge and Amanda Rogers won't work. An opponent pitted against this card will need a Devil or a Jamaharon, both pretty specialized cards with less than optimal side uses apart from being able to destroy a Horga'hn.

So even if you never get your Horga'hn from under your mission, in competitive play you usually already gained the advantage of forcing your opponent to include one of the two counter cards, thus wasting a card slot and a draw on a card that could have been something more constructive.

But now I am going to shock you: The Horga'hn is not a staple in all of my decks. I have several that do not include it. Namely all those which already have two other artifacts (3 if one is a Cryosatellite). I don't go for more than two misssions with artifacts - the third mission usually nets me enough points to win and I'd rather have another Dilemma to hurt my opponent - so if I need something for a theme (like the Kurlan Naiskos for a battle deck or a Ressikan Flute for the infamous Music deck), I leave out the Horga'hn as I prefer to have the Gift Box whose effects are even more useful and more immediate. The Horga'hn might be more useful on the long run but it'll never get me any help if the card I need is at the bottom of my deck (draw it and the game is over), the Gift Box always helps.

Favorite combo(s):

- Horga'hn + Traveler + Red Alert. The ultimate card drawing and playing combo.

Ratings for : HORGA'HN

Wesley's rating:                9.0
Allen's rating:                 9.3
Cole's rating:                  9.0
Data's rating:                  9.2545294572049502976
Gowron's rating:               10.0
Hal's rating:                   9.9
Jack's rating:                  "Refuse to rate"
Lakanta's rating:               9.99
Nanite's rating:               10.0
Nouwa's rating:                10.0
Picarde's rating:              10.0
Q's rating:                    10.0
Ranger's rating:                9.8
Ray's rating:                   9.1
Tania's rating:                 9.0
Tony's rating:                  9.8
Wa'Qah's rating:               10.0
----------------------          
AVERAGE RATING:                 9.59556053277676178218

(without a calculator, guys, what do you think I have that head for ;-) )

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

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LLAP,

Wesley Crusher, the new STCCG Lord

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