Fajo Collection, 18 cards (fixed) + 2 promotional "cards" (not used to calculate averages)
Average Picture Score: 3.46
Average Lore Score: 3.28
Average Trek Sense Score: 3.33
Average Seedability/Stockability Score: 4.33

PRODUCT CONCEPT: Really pricey cards, but all with one-of-a-kind features such as bleeding graphics, special inks, design innovations and special extras... the unifying concept just had to be Kivas Fajo. He's a big collector of things and people (like Data), so was a natural figurehead for this product. You'd think they'd almost all be artifacts of course, and they aren't, so the parallel has to stop somewhere. They did manage to link a large part of the Collection to Fajo though: he owned the Baseball Card and Persistence of Memory, and his drive for an android could have led to his capture of Lore or even Dr. Soong. And of course, there's himself as a personnel card (he's part of his OWN collection?). That's 5 out of 18 cards, not even a third. Not a big point deduction, but it still hurts the Concept score. A 3.7.

PACKAGING/LOOK: A very nice-looking product. I mean, beyond the general quality of the cards (which was covered in each one's review), there's the sturdy and cool looking binder and lots of little add-ons. The binder itself isn't very colorful, but the grays are silvery enough to make it "classy". The fact that sections of all 18 cards are represented on the binder (or its sleeve) is pleasant, and the actual sections shown are usually good choices (there's a lot of drama in eyes, for example). And while I'm on the subject, the hard slipcase is great - I love that die-cut window onto the STCCG symbol. The list of cards and other products on the back of it is pretty weak though. Anyway... back to the binder: As has been mentioned since it was first made available, the inside cover plastic lining unglues at the edges, so that's a little messy. The white paper frontispiece is nice however, especially with that embossed Fajo couch. The binder section would have been better engineered by making the two pages face each other. The way it's built now, I've always got cards that want to slip out. The certificate of authenticity is okay, nothing really special, unless you like collecting signatures. Tells you which of the 40,000 Collections made you have though (#6674 for me). I use the plastic pocket on the inside back cover to put my coupon cards, but I guess it's for the Rules Supplement. Handy.

The Fajo Collection also gives you a number of other items. The Rules Supplement. for example, is of very high quality. I especially like the behind-the-scenes information on card design. It's something I'd like to see a lot more of in future products (or at least on the website). The graphics are all-color, and the front cover, while obviously manipulated with CGI, takes the Fajo couch from actual object to more abstract icon. The Rules Supplement is also required to decipher the all-Klingon Qapla!, and to some extent, the Business Card written in Dixonese. Another of my favorites is the giant poster featuring all the cards produced by Decipher up to that point (just before First Contact). It looks great, and if anyone's listening, we're due for another one. Heck, at this point, we have enough new cards to publish TWO posters. Then, there are the little add-ons to the cards themselves. I haven't tasted the bubble gum (it's a widely known fact that I despise gum in all its myriad forms, tastes and odors), but the word that best identifies it, apparently, is "vile". Regardless, it's a fun idea given the way the baseball card was described in the episode (and given my gummophobia, I'm real glad this wasn't a scratch-and-sniff card). The real, engraved Dixon Hill's Business Card is way cool though, and this could be an actual collectible for non-CCG Trek fans. Simple, but effective and, again, classy.

One last thing which I wasn't able to mention under any of the cards is the Easter Egg that spans all 18 cards. Those in the know are aware that there's a tiny letter after the word "Pic." in each card's copyright notice. Put the cards in the right order, and they spell out "the art of great games". Not particularly flashy, but a good use of the fact that Decipher's slogan contains 18 letters. My only problem is that the "right order" doesn't actually put the cards in any significant order, nor are the cards significantly ordered when you get them beyond by Easter Egg letter (read left to right, down to up). Not alphabetical, not by card type. Why is that? Easier to assemble? The nice extras, and the sturdy slipcover overshadow any little problems like that and the ungluing acetates. A very fine 4.5.

DISTRIBUTION: Buy one product, get 18 pretty powerful, useful and/or beautiful cards automatically. The difficulty isn't in finding rare cards, it's in getting the money and ordering from the exclusive source: The Eccentric Order. That's not self-evident for younger players, since access to a credit card is probably the best tool to go about it. If you have the means though, the cards are all, in a way, commons. Of course, since they are expensively packaged, they aren't really. Not many people will be able to afford multiple copies of any of them for example. I'd say the power vs. accessibility balance is maintained this way, but it also creates a rich vs. poor dynamic in the game. Thankfully, none of these cards creates a failsafe way to win (not remotely), and the more powerful cards have either been kept in check (Black Hole and Lore, for example) or can be recreated using other cards (like Locutus). A fair 3.8.

NEW ICONS, CARD TYPES & MECHANICS: The Fajo Collection comes at an odd place in the release schedule - just before First Contact, but actually coming into most players' hands after. As such, I will not talk about Borg personnel design (nor any of their icons), since none of it was made clear *until* FC. The principal mechanics Fajo actually introduces are the nemesis icon, special downloads and dual-personnel cards.

Fajo Collection icon
Graphics: It's the Fajo couch, an odd piece of furniture, but nonetheless an appropriate symbol for the Collection. The treasures in the back turn into gray lines at this size, so might have been eliminated. I don't particular hate them, but maybe it's just that I don't care either way. To someone who doesn't know it's the couch, they'd be at quite a loss to figure it out though. A 3.2.
Usefulness: The icon is one of the few expansion icons that has an actual use (and it's not limiting). It allows for extra card draws from Fajo's Gallery, as if those cards weren't pretty useful by themselves. Still, a nice bonus for those who paid the hefty admission price. It's also one of the better probe results for Visit Cochrane Memorial, allowing you to download a card. Excellent stuff, but of course, not as common as the Equipment result that does the same. Bonuses, not necessary functions, but worth a 3.8. [Average total: 3.5.]

Nemesis icons
Graphics: The nemesis icons are graphically very simple, tear-shaped arrows that point in one of two directions and holding a skill dot-like colored ball. Nemesis icons that point in opposite directions are those that discard each other, as long as they have the same colored ball (the colors used seem to be those of the affiliations already present in the game). Simple and elegant. As for colors represented in this set, the AU ships have a blue ball, which is the Pasteur's affiliation, while Lore and Soong have a yellow ball, their own. The former may be a bit arbitrary and could have been Klingon red (though knowing the Klingons, the designers were probably aware they'd need the red ball for somebody else), but the latter makes sense within the bounds of this product. A 3.6.
Trek Sense: As specific reviews have shown, this mechanic is often iffy. The idea that characters may be thrust into a "kill-or-be-killed" position, requiring the discard of one of them, is sound and dramatically interesting, but the fact that this doesn't count as "battle" hurts. Not only that, but in some cases, I don't see how one of the participants would ever destroy the other (the Pasteur/Chang match-up being a case in point). The who-kills-who question also bears some scrutiny: the last card on the scene is the one that gets the kill, but couldn't that individual be stonewalled and killed instead? The lack of cards that effect the nemesis (a word I like by the way) mechanic really sap the storytelling out of it. An idea I like, but the execution has some holes in it. Just a 3.
Usefulness: Well, it holds as much danger as it does advantage. What you can do to your opponent, they can do to you. Also, you can't really plan on using them since you can't know what cards your opponent will use (except when it comes to the Blood Oath band), and these are very specific. For example, when this product first came out, your opponent practically had to also have the Fajo Collection for you to even think you'd be able to use any of them. Of course, taking out a powerful card like any of these (or FC Data, or the Blood Oath Klingons, or Kira Nerys, etc.) is a powerful effect, with necessary checks and balances. Mostly incidental: a 2.9. [Average total: 3.17.]

Special Downloads
Graphics: Another simple and elegant icon, it uses the colors and size of the skill dot (and counts as one in many cases), but also does something new. The down arrow symbol symbolizes DOWNloading pretty well, and allows for an eventual UPloading mechanic I'd like to see (sending cards, maybe even opponent's, back to the draw deck). A cool if uncomplicated 3.8.
Trek Sense: This was like a revelation! Some cards were obviously tied to specific characters yet had to be pulled out of a deck and played without their intervention. They still could, but the character couldn't do it more readily or more easily. The Fajo Collection's Miles O'Brien is a great example. We saw him perform the difficult Near-Warp Transport maneuver on the show, yet under the old rules, he wouldn't have been in any way linked to the card. This also opened up the idea that new personnel could be made that had more than the basic list of skills, without requiring a lenghthy special skill. The downloaded card's game text IS the special skill. Specific examples don't always work, but that's not the mechanic's fault. The fact that it suspends play also makes it an "enhancement" worthy of the personnel that is linked to it. It creates effects like hidden weapons on a personnel, and unique skills such as Sensing the Borg being brought into action more naturally than as card plays. A superior 4.9.
Usefulness: Aside from what it did to revitilize the game, special downloads are sometimes crucial to the usefulness of other cards and plenty of strategies. (Straight downloading will be discussed under First Contact however.) Cards targeted by a Special Download get a new lease on life, not requiring a card play, not having to be in hand at the right time, or even in the deck thanks to the Tent which is great to stock backups. Calling up such a card invariably suspends play, allowing you to react to sudden battle and even dilemmas in a way that would not be possible at simple interrupt speeds. Events, objectives, incidents, personnel, etc. don't even have to be played at their appointed time, but at ANY time, even during your opponent's turn. A side-effect to this is that each download shuffles your deck, fighting the effects of Thought Maker, forseen bad probes, etc. The only real hiccup is that it makes for a deadly probe for Under Fire. Another great score: 4.8. [Average total: 4.5.]

Dual-Personnel Cards
Graphics: Combining two cards was a very fun idea (any upcoming trios?), and they managed to not make it look too crowded.  I can't imagine what a TOS pairing would look like though with so many icons, but we haven't seen anything that bad yet. The classification box turns out to be shorter than half the lore box, so that's clean (though the most cluttered part of such cards). The idea of putting the two personnel's names in the skill box, attributing some skills to one, the others to the other, allows you to keep the two separate when cards affect skills (same for the added rather than totaled attributes). Both personnel can benefit or suffer. I don't think they look better than regular personnel cards, but Decipher did manage to not make them too clunky. A 3.2.
Trek Sense: Nice idea. Some characters are inseparable duos. The Sisters, Jake and Nog, Data and Geordi, Bashir and O'Brien... This innovation sets up the idea that such personnel work very closely together, naturally pool their skills, and share in each others' fortunes. Dramatically, this makes sense, though in actuality, it shouldn't always be so. For example, if something kills one of the two personnel, the owner could be allowed to download the other as a stand-alone. Of course, that's not really practical when it comes to random selections. Where it does work is in personnel battles for example, where they team up two against one, that kind of thing. More a plus than a minus: a 3.9.
Usefulness: They're certainly popular, and why shouldn't they be? One card play brings the equivalent of two personnel on the table. Sure, what happens to one happens to the other, making some random selection pretty harrowing, but with the higher overall attributes and larger load of skills, they'll pass more than they get hit by. In personnel battle, they enjoy combined STRENGTH which often exceeds what one unenhanced personnel could deserve. And you can enhance them further: a hand weapon will boost a dual-personnel by a total of +2 to +6! Dilemmas that target larger numbers of personnel (like Rascals) can be narrowly avoided by a dual-personnel. They can't be targeted for assimilation. And since what affects one affects the other, both may benefit from one's species. For example, Data and Picard can report for free where Cybernetics is present, even if one of the two isn't an android. Generally strong, they get a 4. [Average total: 3.7.]

Interrupt/Event Cards
Graphics: Take out the lore box and replace it with a second game text box and voila, two possible effects. The icon is simply a diagonal split between the Event and Interrupt icons, basically in the same layout as the space/planet dilemma icon. Since both icons are circles, they sort of complete each other. That's okay, but I wonder why it's an Interrupt/Event rather than an Event/Interrupt. There's no real reason why it's not alphabetical, so I'm confused. Kinda simple and with one unanswered question: a 2.8.
Trek Sense: While the same concept might inspire different effects, it's sheer laziness to combine cards like this. That's probably why we haven't seen any others. This one was an isolated stunt. I can only give a 2 here.
Usefulness: Well, stock one card, then choose which effect you want to use. This possibility exists in Incidents however, since there's room for a lot more text, and the magic red "OR" can separate the various functions. So here, one function plays at event speed and the other at interrupt speed. Incidents can sorta do that too, usually with a seed/play on table and later use during the turn. The Interrupt/Event format has been superceded by newer card types, but you can't really fault its flexibility. Also, it has both the Event and Interrupt icons for probing purposes. I'd say a near-neutral 3.4 here. [Average total: 2.73.]

(Average score for new mechanics: 3.52.)

OVERALL USEFULNESS: 18 cards doesn't amount to an actual expansion, nor are the cards designed to start you up very quickly with everything you need. No, these are bonus cards, gifts for the hardcore player/collector. Not many really work together, and some even counter each other. That said, individual usefulness is generally much higher than average. Locutus is one of the better Borg counterparts, and though you can sort of recreate him using Assimilate Counterpart and Service the Collective, it's much easier to use him as a stand-alone (and he ain't AU like the others). Lore is very powerful combined with other cards. And Guinan on an Enterprise? Watch out. A lot of others are just cool concepts, like Spot, O'Brien and Persistence of Memory. Others are especially useful in certain strategies like Kivas (with Archaeology/Artifact decks), the Sisters (with Diplomatic Conference) or Qapla! (in Klingon battle decks). Some were unfortunately something of a disappointment. Black Hole scared a lot of people at first, but it turns out its bark is worse than its bite. 1962 Roger Maris Baseball Card didn't really turn out to be worth the trouble at all. A mixed bag, but with more useful cards than not, and perhaps limited by its varied content. It's a limit as to the cohesion of the product, but not when it comes to making players of every affiliation want it. A 3.8 that's very cool, but not necessary to enjoying the game.

TOTAL: 19.32 on 25 (77.28%) Long, and this was only a slice of premiums!

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