Away Team Pack, 2 premium cards
Average Picture Score: 3.45
Average Lore Score: 3.75
Average Trek Sense Score: 3.3
Average Stockability Score: 4

PRODUCT CONCEPT: Cards based on the nicknames of two Decipher ambassadors? Great idea for tournament giveaways! That at least one of the two cards previewed things to come extends that olive branch further. And you could also get them in a magazine, which is "away" from the products themselves. An excellent use of the whole Decipher/Trek culture (handles, tourneys, and such), and it's hard to stray from the concept when there are only two cards. A 5.

PACKAGING/LOOK: No real packaging, just a clear plastic sleeve. So that's dull, but the cards look good, especially The Emissary, which featured a first look at the Bajoran template. Since this category focuses more on the actual packaging, the quality of the cards can only get us to a 1.

DISTRIBUTION: Cards available only at tournaments bug the heck out of me because I'm not a tournament-goer (even if there ever was an official tourney anywhere close to my city... Let's just say I'm at the antipodes of the Betazed region). I don't mind the curtesy foils so much, but I'd really like the ones with alternate images. Thankfully, Decipher provided a relatively easy way for everyone to get the cards, as an insert in Scrye magazine. Not a bad issue to get for Trek fans either, since it contained a preview article on the upcoming Deep Space 9 expansion. The stock is then exhausted at conventions or through a standing mail-in offer. The downside is that after a while, for latecomers to the game, these can become much harder to find than the normal published products. Where does that leave us? Well, all products sell out eventually - we can't take too much of that into account - so still a high 4.5 (I guess all the Magic articles you also have to purchase do make a difference ;-).

NEW ICONS, CARD TYPES & MECHANICS: Though The Emissary is the first appearance of the Bajoran regalia, I'll be waiting for an Extra on Deep Space 9 to discuss the affiliation. The Orb icon, however, is fair game:

Orb icon
Graphics: It's an Orb alright. I've always thought it looked too much like the Barash icon, y'know, both are glowing thingees, but there's nothing else that would make sense. An appropriate and still detailed 3.4.
Trek Sense: When a personnel has this icon, it's because they've gone through an Orb experience (an experience that can be reproduced with the card of the same name). Having an Orb experience makes that personnel "touched by the Prophets" (as I gather from Winn's inability to communicate with them), and from the cards that refer to the icon, makes them able to use the Orbs. It may be that the icon is an old experience that proves they can have another, or that the use of whatever card IS the first experience. A little muddy, or front-backwards, but ok. If Winn hadn't had her problems, it would have been simple to just forget about the icon and make everyone equally elligible, but there you go. A 3.
Usefulness: To the Bajorans (the largest denomination with the icon), Orb icon personnel are very important, mostly because it gives them access to HQ: Return Orb to Bajor. This is a card-drawing engine, round-the-corner strategy and Artifact-acquiring booster all wrapped into one. From there, two Orb Artifacts require the icon to fully function: the Orb of Time (time travel) and that of Wisdom (free card plays). The icon is also a quick and easy way to solve Orb Negociations where multiple Orbs can be seeded. Orb Experience, for its part, allows Orb-icon personnel to peek at any one card in the game, which is potentially advantageous. The same card can be used to give the icon to any personnel, and aside from the Bajorans, only the Cardassians and Ferengi (2) have the icon represented. Well, there's the Federation if you count The Emissary, and you should. Barry Waddle is the NA that can give it to the rest. Bareil could give it to the Alliance. Other affiliations can use all the same cards the Bajorans can, except perhaps Orb Negotiations, depending on their pool of Espionage cards, so it's possible to play a faux-Bajoran deck if you like. Its importance to the Bajorans alone is worth the 4.5.
[Average total: 3.63]

(Average score for new mechanics: 3.63.)

OVERALL USEFULNESS: The Traveler is a cool card with a fun special skill, but really not necessary. As a means to get to anywhere on the spaceline, he's fun, and has great CUNNING, but he's balanced. He phases out and he needs a Youth personnel around. If he could go to other quadrants and time locations, he might be much more useful, but he can't. The Emissary, on the other hand, remains integral to many, if not most, Bajoran decks. The INTEGRITY boost for all Bajoran (no matter where they are!!!) and special download might be enough to regularly use him, but his ability to report Bajorans where present takes the cake. He's a walking Outpost! All cool, plus a skill thrown in, the Orb icon, and a few perks from being Sisko/The Emissary. The Feds can use him (and were the only ones to in the few months between his release and that of DS9), but he can't do as much there. Two strong promotional (read: free) cards, and here, a 4.2.

TOTAL: 18.33 (73.32%) Hey, there are Siskoids in half the set ;-).

< Back to Extras