Wesley's STCCG card of the day #279

as I said, no more QC cards until they atually come out, instead:

LWAXANA TROI

This card, in black border or WB Alpha, is a somewhat valuable collector's item, because of the "Lwaxanna" misprint (which also occurs on the Wind Dancer card in these two editions). For game value however, I could imagine better cards. Like Tam Elbrun, who, for example, has three less attribute points on the one hand but gets me an extra Honor and the ability to use a Captain's Log on Gomtuu. So let's not stick too much with the actual Lwaxana (whose greatest asset is Majel Barrett on the picture) but take a quick delve into one of the more complex skills in the game: Empathy. If I am right there is no skill mentioned that often outside the context of mission requirements, but nearly all of these cards are AU. Before that, Empathy was merely a skill useful in some specialized deck constructs.

But now we have:

• Gomtuu, the only (pre-QC) ship whose crew requirements are not measured in staff stars and AU icons. Instead you need Empathy x2. And with the special "hurling" ability of Gomtuu this is not a negligible use for double Empaths like Lwaxana and Tam Elbrun.
• Wolf. Not a great card but a Genetronic Replicator for Empaths. Merely a support card for Empathy decks.
• Eyes in the Dark. A last resort card when faced with a nasty Dilemma you could almost overcome. Doesn't require double Empathy so we might use one of the more versatile single Empaths here (like Devinoni Ral)
• Two-Dimensional Creatures. A threat to any Empathy-dependent deck. You might want to add an extra ship just in case you hit this one.
• Cardassian Trap. One of the few Dilemmas that actually require a skill and not a classification. And who plays Empaths unless required by their missions?
• Frame of Mind. Cure with 3 Empathy? Sounds a lot like "don't cure at all" to me. Unless you're playing a deck with double Empaths in which case you might actually have a chance to get by this big crewmember paralyzer.
• First Contact. A mission for Deanna, not Lwaxana. She has all the required skills on her own.
• Investigate Sighting. Either you play with double Empaths or you use it as a Romulan (though not really great) mission. I'd rather forget about this one, there are better 35-pointers.

So Lwaxana doesn't make the cut. Much less with Maques and Tam Elbrun showing her how better double Empaths look like.

(One little QC card however works in Lwaxana's Favor: That guy who cannibalizes female Empaths to enhance his Diplomacy - forgot his name; He can benefit of the fact that Lwaxana will still retain one Empathy when he's done draining.)

- Just forget this section for today.

Wesley's rating:                3.0
Allen's rating:                 5.0
Cole's rating:                  4.5
Data's rating:                  6.0
Drew's rating:                  ---
Gowron's rating:                3.0
Hal's rating:                   7.5
Jack's rating:                  7.0
Lakanta's rating:               5.0
Nanite's rating:                2.0
Nouwa's rating:                 5.0
Picarde's rating:               ---
Q's rating:                     7.0
Ranger's rating:                6.0
Ray's rating:                   3.0
Tania's rating:                 5.0
Tony's rating:                  7.0
Wa'Qah's rating:                8.0
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AVERAGE RATING:                 5.25

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Wesley Crusher, the new STCCG Lord

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