Enhanced
First Contact, 4 boxes each with 3 cards (fixed) + 1 overlay
(fixed) + 4 First Contact booster packs (total: 12 new cards and 4 overlays);
following averages do not factor in overlays.
Average Picture Score: 3.93
Average Lore Score: 3.3
Average Trek Sense Score: 3.56
Average Seedability/Stockability Score: 4.21
PRODUCT CONCEPT: The idea of "Enhancing" older products is definitely a fun as well as useful one. Decipher gets a chance to fix some of the holes left when the original expansion came out, as many do once the set is actually out and into players' hands. In the case of First Contact, these holes are basically those that made the Borg harder to play. It's a good set to start with because you can insure quality images from the film, but Decipher went ahead and provided CGI cards which are great too. The bonus overlays were a great idea, just for fun though they are less than useful in such small quantities. FC was not a weak set to start with, and I would think the weaker sets (AU and QC come to mind) might deserve Enhanced products in the future. Clearly, a cool idea at 4.5
PACKAGING/LOOK: Each EFC box uses a Borg color (green) and the same spackled texture from their affiliated cards, and has an attractive metallic sheen. The usual montage of personnel and ship images is gone in favor of a central cut-out screen through which you can see the top card of that particular box. A nice idea, though in many cases, the card image doesn't fit exactly, sliding down a little because of its plastic sleeve inside the box. The top of the box is slanted because it contains boosters which are longer than a starter box, but more than utilitarian, it presents the idea of enhancement. STCCG: now 5% bigger! The top also has an oversized FC icon which looks very nice (you lose a lot of definition on those small icons), and while I didn't like the garish yellow strip ("Free!"), I think it's necessary to make the box dynamic. Speaking of non-dynamic, the back has a bottom-heavy composition which I find lacking, and those bar codes on the right side of the box are just eyesores, but that's not really what you'll be checking out.
Inside, there's a little piece of cardboard to keep the heavy boosters from crushing the more vulnerable premiums and a quite legible green-on-white rules document. Nothing flashy there, just good sense. On basic production values, I have to say the FC boosters usually show a lot of wear, often being stuck together by the heat of some unknown process. And wasn't this the first widespread appearance of water spots on the cards? A moist cloth would fix it right up, but some people did get a little hot under the collar over it. All in all, I'd say it looks good, but not everything works. A 3.3.
DISTRIBUTION: One product, 4 boxes to buy. That's a bit of a disappointment, especially since in some quarters, an EFC box cost close to twice what a starter deck does for only 3 new cards. Sure, there are 4 FC booster packs, but this was one of the most easily collected sets in STCCG history, with a very equal and stable distribution of rares, so many players already had all the FC they could want. Thankfully (or call it a stunt), one of the boxes provided a means of using those boosters - Add Distinctiveness. The extra ½-card overlay is fun, but really the kind of thing that would be better in large quantities (at least enough to fill your assimilation needs during a game), but EFC is unfortunately cost-prohibitive. Same goes for any of the premiums you'd like in any measurable quantity such as We Are the Borg. Other premium products have featured unique personnel you don't need multiple copies of, but incidents and events have broader uses. Is any box more useful than the other? Sure, but it all depends on your needs. The Gowron and Tomalak boxes only have Borg-use cards, so wouldn't be very appealing to non-Borg players, but are probably the most appealing to Borg players themselves because of those counterparts' abilities, while the Bareil box (again, just Borg cards) is less interesting. The Dukat box has a non-Borg card, but boosts a less popular Borg strategy. Tell you what: At least you know exactly which cards are in which box, so that you can buy only the ones you want (repeatedly if you're that serious about it). Of course, Decipher will have fixed this marketing problem with the more random Enhanced Premiere. All 4 boxes can run you almost at the same price as a box of boosters depending on the store, so hits a middling (too much to buy, but some consumer control) 2.6.
NEW ICONS, CARD TYPES & MECHANICS: One of the problems about the Borg was that they could only use one Objective at a time. To give them more card with long game text, something had to be done. The Incident was born! And though they often read like Objectives in EFC (ex.: Service the Collective), the card will find its niche in concepts that require long game text but aren't really objectives (ex.: Obelisk of Masaka).
Incidents
Graphics: Most verb cards have an icon that is basically circular,
or at least has a definite center. The Incident is more squarish, but is
still the kind of centralized composition we see on other card types. The
light blue contrasts well with Event green and Interrupt red. The image
itself could look like some kind of square object stopping a set of sliding
doors from closing (folded like the iris of a camera). That action could
be seen as the incident in question. Quite abstract, but you can still
see the designers' gears turning. A 4.
Trek Sense: Sometimes it sounds like an event, sometimes like
an objective, this is the card type with no real identity. Let's just say
it's interchangeable with an event, since the objective at least has a
difference for the Borg. As a kind of event, it spends your card play (takes
time to "happen"), but cannot be nullified by some generic means, possibly
because they are more complex than events. If only they'd made lore boxes
optional, or events more flexible length-wise, we wouldn't have needed
a clone, so the points come off due to unoriginality, but those that stay
are due to a well-working card type at 3.9.
Usefulness: Cards that cost you your standard card play are
slower by definition, but a fair amount of Incidents can be seeded too,
which actually speeds you up. The longer game text either packs more punch
or more flexibility, which is either way excellent. The cards that really
change the game these days are often Incidents, whether they be big Referee
icon mega-counters or great alternatives to treaties like the Emblems or
perhaps especially the new mechanics awarded to one affiliation or another
like The Art of Diplomacy or Rituals of the Hunt. Function (and usefulness)
vary greatly, but the Incident isn't just a good card type, it's a powerful
tool for changing the way we see the game. Easily a 4.6.
[Average total: 4.16.]
(Average score for new mechanics: 4.16.)
OVERALL USEFULNESS: For the Borg, this was a treasure trove of enhanced strategies, for the other affiliations, not so much (just the barely used Nightmare). Does this mean the score is gonna suffer? Nope, since I gave extremely high marks to such cards as Establish Gateway and Adapt: Negate Obstruction. Borg cards are almost on a different level. (So that's the best Borg card? Now what's the best card outside of that?) That said, EFC plugged a lot of holes in existing strategies, and many weaknesses a player could think of were adressed. The pre-fab counterparts make Assimilate Homeworld independant of Assimilate Counterpart. Gowron of Borg specifically gives the Borg limited battle initiation. Add Distinctiveness not only gives incentive for assimilating personnel (which used to be "just for fun"), but also makes those unopened boosters useful. Population 9 Billion makes the objective no one really wanted to complete, Stop First Contact, more attractive by offering a two-objective win. Service the Collective enhances Assimilate Counterpart this time offering quicker probing. Sphere Encounter brought Spheres closer to Scout usefulness, and We Are the Borg proved to be an excellent drawing/reporting engine. New drones countered Borg-weakining cards such as Computer Crash (11 of 17) and Rogue Borg pings (6 of 19). Some opponents of the set claimed the enhancements weren't necessary if you knew how to play the Borg, but nevertheless, we have them now, and they are very powerful cards for the most part. A clean 4.4.
TOTAL: 18.96 (75.84%) Some distribution blues for some excellent cards, but only if you play the Collective.