Wesley's STCCG card of the day #316

Hi, folks,

let me finish off that last piece of the Classic business. Some of you might get to miss this longest-running subset in COTD, but this won't be the last ever subset... Oh, speaking of subsets - how about Internet Expansion III? With all these Dream cards floating around, we could as well do that.

Rules?

Easy. Send me up to four card ideas, complete with game effect, lore, title, and whatever else is needed. Listings in COTD format greatly appreciated. I'll sort out the best 15, add 3 ideas of mine and send everything to my raters for voting on the top 8. They will then be COTD #333 to #340.

Everything from the scope of the new contract (TNG, DS9, VOY and First Contact) is fair game except for basic versions of main characters. Please don't bore me with the 37th Miles O'Brien variation or the 24th Janeway. AU versions of those characters are however fine, just please be a little creative. Oh, and not another version of the DS9 station or the Voyager either, okay?

The results of your creative efforts should arrive here until the release date of COTD #325.

But back to issue #316...

Classic COTD #25 (the last one)

PALOR TOFF - ALIEN TRADER

Interrupt, common.
Exchange this card for any non-Personnel card in your discard pile.
"Rich merchant and trader from an unknown race. Friend of Kivas Fajo. Snappy dresser."
One of the "must have" cards. The secret of Palor is that he is not just one card, but several cards in one. Think of a deck in which you have 2 Kivas, 2 Kevins, 2 Amandas and 2 Q2s. Plus 5 Palors. How many cards is this? 13? Almost. This bunch takes up space for 13 cards in your deck, but you really have 28. Drawing a Palor is nearly as good as drawing a Joker in Rummy if you have a deck design like the one I just outlined, with lots of countering power and highly reactive. However, unlike Q's tent, Palor Toff has a severe limitation. He cannot duplicate cards that have not yet been played. So it won't help you having seven Palors in your hand if your only Kevin Uxbridge is buried at the bottom of your deck and you urgently need that card. So Palor is for non-personnel cards what Lal and Vulcan Mindmeld are for Personnel - a means to duplicate the aspects of a card you have played before.

So much for what you can plan to do with good old Palor. But he's also great in those situations you cannot exactly plan for. So, for example, why include an extra outpost just for the case you might lose your original one when Palor can do the same job, just better? Or what if your best ship is sent to the trash by a Supernova? Same answer, and you can do it all with a card that still has a good use if neither of these unplanned nasties come your way. Just keep an Amanda handy if you really want to rely on Palor, otherwise you might find yourself on the wrong end of a Countermanda card.

And Palor vs. Res-Q? Palor cannot get back personnel. But if you have once used Res-Q, he can. Just get the Res-Q and then the personnel. So if the question is which one you want to duplicate in your deck, the answer should be easy.

One last point: Palor is an Interrupt so he costs you no card play and thus no turn. Just don't forget that there's one thing that's however not possible: Using Palor to get an Amanda you need to counter that nasty Interrupt your opponent just played.

Favorite combo(s):
And here's a little quiz (Palor-related):

I once made a card of myself. The first version read CMDR. CRUSHER
Personnel, Federation, rare.
OFFICER, ENGINEER, Computer Skill x2, Gain 2 points for each card you play. Command Star (*), AU Icon. 6/9/5.

Why is this card horribly broken? (Solutions by email, and those of you who have seen this question back around #150, don't spoil it for the others, please)

Ratings for : PALOR TOFF - ALIEN TRADER 

Wesley's rating:                9.8
Cole's rating:                  6.6
Data's rating:                  8.8
Drew's rating:                  9.6
Gowron's rating:                8.6
Hal's rating:                   9.8
Jack's rating:                  8.9
Mot's rating:                   8.0
Nanite's rating:                6.0
Nog's rating:                   8.0
Nouwa's rating:                 8.0
Picarde's rating:               9.0
Q's rating:                     8.0
Ranger's rating:                7.5
Rothspar's rating:              8.5
Tebok's rating:                 8.0
Tony's rating:                  7.8
----------------------          
AVERAGE RATING:                 8.3
Please direct all email concerning card of the day to: crusher@kiss.de

Visit the Web Page!

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

With all back issues from #1 up to today !

LLAP,

Wesley Crusher
Primary member of the STCCG Players' committee

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